Looking Back
by OccasionallyBreathtaking
Summary: "They all helped save me from myself, but he was the one I fell for."  In an interview, Hermione reveals what happened when she was sent back in time that fateful day at Hogwarts, who she met, and who she loved. SB/HG, JP/LE, RL/OC
1. Chapter One

**This story has now been rewritten twice, because I just haven't been happy with the outcome. I keep jumping the gun and posting it when it's not ready, but I've taken some time now to improve and lengthen it, so I hope it's less of a disappointment to you readers than it is to me.**

**11 February 2011**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and if I were making money off of this, would I be working a minimum wage job at a smoothie shop during the winter?**

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_The slight woman swore softly as she entered the crowded, dimly lit pub, rain beating down upon her. Shaking the water from her cloak, she removed it, revealing a set of deep crimson robes. Spying her correspondent at a dingy table in the farthest corner of the room, Hermione Granger made her way toward it, sitting down across from a tiny woman with blond curls and startlingly electric blue eyes. Miss Magenta Reed was a reporter for a popular witch's magazine that most often portrayed the accomplishments of the most notable and revered witches of the time. Hermione folded her cloak in her arms as she sat across from the young woman._

"_Good to see the storm hasn't deterred you, Madame Granger," Magenta noted, pulling a writing tablet and quill from the messenger bag at her side. "I've been itching to write this story, and my editor's finally given me permission to contact you. The bastard didn't think you'd accept the interview. I just can't tell you how glad I am that you came." Hermione laughed softly._

"_Nothing would keep me from being here tonight, Miss Reed. It'll be nice to finally answer all the questions I've been asked. I'm getting rather tired of repeating the story to everyone who wants to know." She paused. "Besides, I enjoy your writing. There's something incredibly refreshing about a young reporter with a backbone." Magenta grinned._

"_Shall we get started, then?" she asked, and Hermione nodded, signaling the bartender and ordering herself a drink. "Tell me about yourself. Where did the famous Hermione Granger begin?"_

"_I was born Hermione Jean Granger to Jonathon and Aleya Granger on October the twentieth in London, England. I lived with my parents there in London all my life, attending primary schooling in the area. I was an only child, and my best friend was the little girl who lived in the house next door. Sarah and I got on well until we both parted ways to attend secondary school."_

"_Do you still keep in touch with her?" Hermione shook her head slowly._

"_Unfortunately, Sarah and I haven't spoken in years," she replied absently. "Last I heard, she got married to a successful Muggle banker and she's chasing their little ones all around the house."_

"_What about the rest of your childhood? Were you close with your parents?"_

"_I was a happy child, never wanting for clothes or books or a warm home to come to in the winter after a snowstorm._

"_I was, predictably, always the bookworm and I continued to have that reputation through the years. The day that marks the beginning of my life as a witch was the day that I received the same letter from Professor McGonagall that every young witch and wizard receives, inviting me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for my magical schooling._

"_I'll never forget the day that letter came__," Hermione __added softly__._

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"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER, GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" Aleya Granger shouted to her eleven-year-old daughter. Hermione made her way cautiously down the stairs. She never got in trouble, so what could be the problem?

"Yes, Mum?" Aleya stood in the bright kitchen, her face flushed a color red enough to compete with that of the tomatoes she was dicing. The slim woman set the knife next to the mutilated tomatoes and wiped her hands on her apron, eyeing her daughter warily.

"You have a letter, over there," Aleya replied. Looking over to the small, square table Hermione noticed a dark barn owl resting on its surface, a roll of thin parchment tied to its leg. It was waiting patiently and watching her expectantly. Hermione gave her mother a curious look, to which Aleya threw up her hands and said, "I don't know anything more than you do. It arrived two minutes ago." She shook her head, returning to the tomatoes. "Nearly gave me a heart attack, it did. Bloody bird, flying into the kitchen. It must be something in the water."

As Aleya continued to mutter to herself, Hermione took the few steps to the kitchen table warily, not wanting to upset the odd bird. When it wasn't disturbed, she untied the roll of parchment from its leg, leaving the owl free to fly out the open window into the suburban streets.

Hermione unrolled the paper, reading the letter sent from one Professor M. McGonagall, Headmistress, telling her that she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She turned pale as she read it, and thrust the paper at her mother as Aleya came up behind her.

"This is odd," Aleya commented, reading the letter several times. "My daughter? A witch? There must be some sort of mistake. There's no such thing!"

"Have we ever had a witch in the family?" Hermione asked, thinking over the words that she'd already memorized. "There has to be some sort of mistake. Magic's for fairytales." Aleya stiffened, and then shook her head slowly. Hermione looked up in surprise.

"This is no mistake," she told her daughter. "You probably don't remember this, but there was a time when a tire went flat on our car on the way from your grandmother's house. You were very little at the time, hardly two years old. Suddenly, as your father was shouting something about not remembering to put the spare in the boot, the tire inflated itself, good as new." Aleya smiled. "We didn't think it could possibly have anything to do with you, but you were giggling and pointing at it. We thought it some miracle from our guardian angel.

"That's not the only odd thing that's ever happened around you," she added. "But it is one of the most notable examples of this…apparent gift. Just wait till your father gets home. He probably remembers the stories better than I do."

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"_Wow," Magenta murmured. "Your parents accepted your magic, just like that? I hear that most Muggle families have trouble understanding it when they receive the letter." Hermione sighed._

"_It took them a while to understand exactly what was going on," she replied. "We got a visit from Albus Dumbledore shortly after the letter arrived, and his explanation seemed to go farther to proving to my parents that I belonged at Hogwarts more than anything else. I suppose that once I was on the Hogwarts Express, it probably really sunk in that I wasn't going to be the normal daughter that they'd wished for and groomed for eleven years." Hermione gave a wry little laugh. "To them, I suppose you could say it was like having a bad dream – one that you can't really wake up from. I was a disappointment to them, but they never said a word to make me believe that. It took me several years to understand the looks they exchanged and the muffled sighs behind my back."_

"_But you weren't a disappointment of a daughter at all!" protested Magenta, her quill scribbling away at the parchment. "You were at the top of your class during your entire education! You were friends with the most notable young wizard of the age, and took part in almost all of his dangerous adventures! It seems downright silly for someone to be upset about a child who does so much with her young life." Hermione smiled wryly._

"_Thank you for saying that," she replied. "I wasn't the daughter that they expected, much less the daughter that they wanted. As a teenage girl, I should have been more upset about realizing this, but I truly wasn't. I guess I'd spent so much time away from them, at school, that it didn't really matter to me as much as it should have. Instead of being upset about it, I threw myself harder into my studies and friendships. Those years I spent at Hogwarts were a wonderful whirlwind, and there isn't a moment of it that I regret, despite growing more distant with my parents."_

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**Well, I'm going to go and ice my knee. I jammed it while playing soccer today with my recreational team, and it's really unhappy with me. I hope you enjoyed this, because this story is a real treat to write.**** I hope you all have a wonderful ****Valentine's Day on Monday! My boyfriendless self will be catching up on some reading and school work, so I plan on celebrating the good weather.**


	2. Chapter Two

_**Chapter two is here…again! Once again, thanks to those of you who've stuck with this story, even through its most recent rewrite. I hope it's up to your standards and doesn't disappoint.**_

_**Special thanks to **____**for encouraging me to speed up the process of posting the story. You are awesome!**_

_**15 February 2011**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters or places you recognize. I do, however, own the tiny**__** Christmas tree that's still in the corner of my room. I think I'm in denial that the holiday season is truly over…**_

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_Hermione and Magenta Reed continued to sit in their corner, uninterrupted save for the occasional greeting by an acquaintance or a fresh drink from the bartender._

"_So your parents were a disappointment to _you_," Magenta noted, jotting this down on her parchment. "Did that make you more fervent in your search for __friends at Hogwarts?" Hermione__ paused thoughtfully, then nodded._

"_I wasn't successful at first. Sarah truly was my only friend in the Muggle world, and after years of thinking back upon it, I've finally understood why._

"_I went into Hogwarts with the same mentality that I'd kept through Muggle primary school," she explained. "I thought that I could use my knowledge of interesting facts to draw people to me, and that they'd be impressed with how much I knew. This did not have the desired effect, and it turned people away from me rather than bringing them closer." She took a sip of her drink. _

"_Then you know what happened on Halloween of my first year. Ron and Harry distracted the troll that had been set upon the castle so that I'd have a chance to escape. I was lucky when Harry and Ron decided to befriend me after that. They were kinder to me than I deserved after the incident, and I stuck close by them forever after that."_

_She laughed quietly._

"_I always helped them with their homework and study schedules for exams, you know. I felt at times that it was the least I could do for them for putting up with me. I was, after all, so different from the both of them. Even now, I'm not quite sure how we all stuck together through the majority of our time at school during our first six years. We had our battles, especially Ron and myself, but somehow, we made it through together._

"_Of course, you know of all the things that happened surrounding Harry Potter and his faithful sidekicks during our first six years at school: Harry defeated Quirrel and Lord Voldemort, rid Hogwarts of the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, competed in the TriWizard Tournament and dueled Lord Voldemort after his return to a body, battled Dolores Umbridge and fought against Death Eaters and the Dark Lord in the Department of Mysteries, and was there with Headmaster Albus Dumbledore when he was killed by Severus Snape._

"_Those were the highlights of our six years together at Hogwarts, and though I wasn't present for many of the incredible things Harry did, Ron and I were there to support him in his struggles."_

"_But you were part of the Golden Trio!" remarked Magenta. "You're nearly as famous as Mr. Potter himself!" Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste at the nickname for her friendship with the boys, smiling nonetheless._

"_That's very flattering," Hermione replied, "but Harry was the shining beacon of hope through the years, and I was just along for the ride." She smiled. "It was the second childhood that I wished for, but never dared I'd ever have. I only went to school with my best friends for six years, however. Just before the fall term of my seventh year started, my life took an incredibly dramatic turn._

"_Let me tell you what happened on that fateful day before my seventh year of schooling even began."_

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"How is it even possible that we got into seventh year N.E.W.T. Potions?" Ron asked, withdrawing into a dismal mood as he, Harry, and Hermione walked amid the flow of students to the Gryffindor tower after the opening feast. "I mean, really, even with Slughorn's love for you, Harry, there's no way we did well enough. Plus, with that new bloke teaching? We'll never make it, mate. We're doomed."

"That's the spirit," replied Harry, and Hermione laughed.

"Cheer up," she said brightly. "Malfoy, Snape, and Slughorn are gone, and since Crabbe and Goyle are hopeless at anything besides eating and grunting, the Slytherin presence in Potions is going to be extremely low."

"This is true," Harry agreed, and he looked over at Ron. "Maybe we stand a chance at normalcy in that class now that we have neither a teacher who hates us nor a teacher who loves us."

"Oh, don't be daft, Harry," Ron scolded dryly. "Normalcy? You're Harry Potter, Boy Wonder, and Hermione's the only girl in the school who's got brains worth a Knut. Our chances at normalcy flew to Scotland with our old Ford Anglia." Both Harry and Hermione sniggered at this, causing the first years they were trailing to look back at them nervously.

They clambered through the portrait hole moments later as the Gryffindor Prefects showed the brand new first year Gryffindors to their dormitories. Harry and Ron immediately collapsed into their favorite chairs by the fireplace, but Hermione disappeared up into the girls' dormitory. She came down minutes later with her brand new book bag, already crammed with her textbooks for the year.

"Hermione, classes haven't even started yet," protested Ron as she headed to the portrait hole. "You couldn't possibly have schoolwork to do. And I thought you gave up on '_spew_' ages ago." Hermione rolled her eyes as she stuffed her new schedule into her bag and turned back to her friends.

"Honestly, Ronald," she sighed. "It's S.P.E.W. And I did abandon it, for a lack of membership and respect from the magical community. Besides, I'm taking more classes than either of you are this year, so I need to get a good head start before I fall behind. My Time Turner only does so much, you know." Harry's mouth fell open.

"McGonagall gave you another Time Turner?" he asked in gaping surprise. "Doesn't she remember the third year fiasco? You never slept and you were a nervous wreck by the time exams came around. More than usual, I mean."

"I'm almost seventeen now, in case you didn't remember," Hermione reminded him primly. "I was thirteen then, and I have learned a few things since." She turned away again.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get some work done. I know I didn't read _1001 Useful Charms_ carefully enough, and if Flitwick quizzes us on the first day I'll be sunk." Behind her, Hermione heard Ron mutter, "If Flitwick quizzes us on the first day, I'm a mermaid."

"Don't wish too hard, Ron," she called over her shoulder. "Page seventy-four of _1001 Useful Charms_ – how to refresh and rejuvenate the color of your scales." As the portrait shut behind her, Hermione chuckled, imagining the look on Harry's and Ron's faces. Maybe they'd crack their books open tonight, just to see if she was telling the truth.

She was nearly to the library when a whisper of cloth in the corridor behind her made her hesitate, then stop. She reached for her wand, which she'd stored in her pocket, and muttered, "Lumos." As a soft light dimly illuminated the hall, she looked around and saw nothing. Shrugging, she put out the light and thrust her wand back into her pocket, shouldering her bag once more.

Someone grabbed her roughly around the shoulders and threw her against the wall, causing her to drop her bag to the floor. Hermione struggled and looked up to see Blaise Zabini standing over her, holding her to the wall.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked indignantly, reaching down for her wand. Vincent Crabbe, who stood behind Zabini, noticed this and pinned her arm against the wall. Gregory Goyle then took her other arm and did the same. "What's going on?"

"Since Draco's not here to claim possession on tormenting you this year," Zabini drawled casually, "I thought I'd give it a shot. You're easier to sneak up on than one might think, given your reputation for fast reflexes." Hermione lifted her knee, aiming to jam it into his groin. She succeeded, and Zabini fell to the ground, groaning. Crabbe and Goyle continued to hold Hermione against the wall, watching their newly instated leader roll around in agony.

"How's that for fast reflexes?" Hermione taunted him, glaring down at his prone form. When he finally stood again, he was sweating, and his face was red.

"You'll pay for that, Granger," he growled, rolling back the sleeves of his robe. Hermione's heart stopped for a moment, but she narrowed her eyes up at him again.

"I'm Head Girl," she hissed angrily, but the fear must have been evident in her voice, for Crabbe and Goyle joined Zabini in laughing at her. "What makes you think you're going to get away with this?"

"I have a feeling you're not going to be in any position to talk when we're done with you," he informed her, and her heart sunk even lower.

"You're in real trouble, Granger," he added softly. He aimed a blow at her chest, and he hit her dead center. The tinkle of breaking glass could be heard, and with a small, "Oh!" Hermione Granger disappeared from the castle.

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_There was a pregnant pause in which Magenta stared in open-mouthed shock at Hermione._

"_Your own classmates did this to you?" the reporter finally whispered moments later. "I can hardly believe my ears!" Hermione chuckled._

"_Miss Reed, where did you receive your magical education?" she asked._

"_My father stayed home and taught me from books and experience while my mother was editing the Daily Prophet," Magenta replied. "I was invited to study at Hogwarts, but my parents decided to teach me themselves. Why do you ask?"_

"_Hogwarts is a school where unity and competition between the houses are _both_ encouraged," Hermione explained. "It's a complicated dichotomy that few understand until they've long since completed their magical education, but it's something that I've studied and contemplated for years. The Slytherins are the greatest competition for Gryffindors in social and athletic terms, and often, this rivalry can get out of hand."_

_She laughed wryly. "In my case, however, a sort of vigilante justice was imposed by three of my Slytherin classmates. But as you can see, I'm still here today, so things eventually worked out in my favor."_

"_Well?" pressed the reporter, scribbling excitedly on her parchment. "What happened next? Where did you go?"_

"_Be patient with me, Miss Reed!" Hermione chided, grinning in spite of herself. "I assure you, my story isn't nearly as exciting without all the details." She sighed._

"_What happened next changed my life forever."_

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**It's short and sweet. Who needs the extra calories, anyway? Unless you're my sixteen year old brother, and you eat enough in a day to feed several killer whales for a year. Of course, being a teenage boy, he's sti****ll a freakin' stick.**


	3. Chapter Three

**Check it out…chapter three is here!**

**17 February 2011**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money off of this writing. If I was, I'd buy more yogurt. Because that stuff rocks. Instead, I'm still just a broke college kid, living on dreams and Spaghettios. (Fifty gold stars to you if you name that song reference.)**

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"_Alright, I'm being patient," cajoled Magenta. "What __happened next?"_

"_When I disappeared from the Hogwarts of my present, it seemed like only moments later I was slamming into the ground somewhere else…"_

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Hermione felt the crushing pain to her chest, and all was dark for several seconds. She could no longer hear or see anything around her. In fact, she felt nothing at all. It was as though she had lost total control of her senses. There was nothing but her consciousness, floating in a still and dark space.

She blinked, and her eyes were flooded with light again. Surprised, she cried out, blinking rapidly as her eyes teared up.

"What in Merlin's name…" began a deep voice above her. Hermione wiped her eyes and looked around, finding herself in the company of a young man wearing black uniform robes. She was surprised to see that she was still in the hallway in the Hogwarts castle, just yards from the entrance to the library.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked, holding out a hand for her to take. She accepted his help and stood, brushing the back of her robes and looking around warily.

"I think so," she said slowly, looking around once more. Yes, she was definitely in the same place she had been before being hit by Blaise Zabini. So what had happened?

"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you?" the boy wondered, watching her curiously. "I don't believe I've seen you here before, and you look a little old to be a first year." Hermione frowned.

"Hermione Granger," she introduced herself, holding out her hand. He grasped it firmly and shook it.

"Hello, Hermione," he said in a friendly voice. "I'm Frank Longbottom, seventh year Gryffindor." Hermione's eyelids fluttered, and her knees buckled as confusion first, then realization hit her.

"Whoa," Frank cried, grabbing Hermione's shoulders as her legs fell out from beneath her. "Hermione!" But Hermione didn't hear him, for everything went dark as the future father of her schoolmate caught her.

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"Headmaster!" a high voice called from somewhere beside Hermione. "Headmaster, I think she's waking!"

Hermione groaned softly, stirring slowly. The bed beneath her was soft and comfortable, and she was reluctant to allow the last vestiges of sleep leave her. But then, a cold hand was pressed against her warm forehead, and her eyes snapped open. Above her, she could see a high ceiling overlooking a warmly lit room.

"Ah, yes, it's nice to see your eyes open, young lady," said a serene voice from beside her. Hermione looked over, and was shocked to see a younger, less lined Albus Dumbledore sitting on the bed to her right. How was this possible? Dumbledore had been killed by Severus Snape only months before, hadn't he? "You gave us a bit of a scare."

"Where am I?" she wondered. "What's going on?"

"You, my dear, are in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the Headmaster replied. "You've been asleep for nearly an entire day." Hermione's eyes widened as she looked over at Madame Poppy Pomfrey, the witch tasked with the job of watching over and caring for students at Hogwarts needing medical attention. Her hair was a pleasant shade of reddish-blond rather than the light grey Hermione had become accustomed to seeing during her first six years of school.

"And I must say, the young Mr. Frank Longbottom has been here between nearly all his classes," Dumbledore continued. "You scared him by fainting like that."

Hermione's heart stopped. Frank Longbottom. Neville's father. Here, at Hogwarts. No, she told herself. That's just not possible! But as Hermione looked around, she realized that her worst imaginings had come true. There was a portrait of Alistair Troika over the double-door entrance to the room full of beds, but he hadn't been Head Medi-Wizard for fifteen years.

"Mr. Longbottom was kind enough to relay that you told him your name is Hermione Granger," Dumbledore added. "I, however, have no recollection of a Hermione Granger attending classes here this year. Perhaps you might tell me why this is?" Hermione nodded haltingly, and then hesitated as she looked over at Madame Pomfrey, who was busying herself with mixing four oddly colored potions in one bottle.

"We should speak in private," Hermione murmured, motioning toward the woman. Dumbledore nodded.

"Poppy, would you allow me to have a few minutes alone with Hermione?" he asked kindly. The witch looked over, frowning.

"Albus, I must protest," she said. "She needs treatment!" Dumbledore nodded and smiled.

"I understand, but I am a very clever and accomplished wizard, Poppy," Dumbledore replied, almost impatiently. "I am fully capable of administering aid to one patient when necessary. And I swear to you that should anything happen while you are waiting in the hallway, I shall call you immediately." Embarrassed, Madame Pomfrey flushed deeply red. She pursed her lips, disapproval apparent in her eyes as she bustled from the room. As the doors shut behind her, Dumbledore sighed. They were alone in the room.

"Now you may tell me your story without interruption," the aging man told her.

"My name _is_ Hermione Granger," she insisted, sitting up against her pillows. "I'm actually a seventh year Gryffindor student…but it looks as though I've somehow landed in a time that's not my own present." Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"How do you think that happened?" he wondered, and she shrugged, running a hand through her unruly hair. It had grown even more unkempt during her slumber, and her inattention appeared to have done it a great disservice.

"A few Slytherin students attacked me on my way to the library, and one of them hit me. When Frank Longbottom introduced himself to me, I realized that I was no longer in the Hogwarts of my own time, but that I'd been somehow transported back some decades previous. I attend school with his son, you see." Suddenly, she remembered the sound of breaking glass she'd heard just before everything changed, and thrust her hand down the front of her robes. After fishing around for a moment, she pulled her hand out with her Time Turner clutched between her shaking fingers.

The tiny hourglass had been smashed to bits. Some of the pieces of glass had clung to the tiny gold frame, but most had disappeared. With them had gone the miniscule grains of sand that had once filled the hourglass.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your thinking, Miss Granger, but is that a Time Turner?" Dumbledore asked quietly, leaning forward and holding his hand out. Hermione nodded, pulling the chain from around her neck, handing it to the Headmaster.

For several minutes, Dumbledore examined the broken pieces with interest, turning them over and over in his hands.

"How did this happen, Miss Granger?" he inquired when he was through inspecting her Time Turner.

"When I was attacked, one of the students punched me. He must have accidentally hit it under my shirt, since I'm sure he didn't even know it was there." Dumbledore nodded, surveying her.

"Who were the students that accosted you?" he asked curiously, and Hermione hesitated.

"I-I don't think I should be telling you that, Headmaster," she replied. "There's no telling what damage could be done with that kind of information." Dumbledore handed her the shattered Time Turner, smiling.

"Quite right, Miss Granger," he agreed. "You are wise beyond your years. I think it's time I tell you what little we magical men and women know about Time Turners. It might provide you with the answers of how and why you found yourself in the Hogwarts of the past rather than in the Hogwarts of your present." Hermione nodded, sitting up straighter and folding her hands in her lap. She was nothing if not an attentive student.

"The idea for the Time Turner was conceived by a brilliant young wizard by the name of Newt Roblingvich," Dumbledore explained, "in the year-"

"-1643," finished Hermione, clapping her hand over her mouth as the Headmaster closed his own. "Sorry, sir, it's habit. It won't happen again."

"It's quite alright, Miss Granger," he said smoothly, smiling disarmingly at her. "It seems as though you're more informed than I'd assumed. I'll try not to underestimate you again.

"This next part is not something that can be found in most time-travelling texts, so I'll explain it in greater detail.

"When Mr. Roblingvich created the first Time Turner with the assistance of his wife so many years ago, he introduced it to his friend and colleague Sir William Koll. Several years later, Sir Koll confided in his friend an idea to prevent against the abuse of Time Turners once they became known to the magical public. His idea was, in essence, to create a failsafe that would send the user back in time should the Time Turner ever know damage. That way, the damage could be prevented by the user himself." Hermione nodded, following the story with her utmost concentration.

"Mr. Roblingvich acquiesced to the idea, and the production of Time Turners for controlled use was commenced. It wasn't until one hundred and twenty years later that someone discovered that the amount of damage was directly proportional to the amount of time which the user would have to relive."

Hermione frowned, staring at him.

"I don't think I understand what you mean, sir," she said quickly.

"Essentially, my dear, the more damage done to the Time Turner, the farther in time the user will travel." Hermione's throat tightened.

"My Time Turner was shattered," she reminded him. "And I'm roughly twenty years back from where I should be." Dumbledore nodded. "What does this mean for me? How do I get back to my own time?"

"Ah, I'd hoped you would give me a little more time to consider that particular dilemma," Dumbledore admitted. "I have absolutely no knowledge on the subject. From what I can recall, and my recollections are usually quite accurate, no one has ever been sent so far back in time. In all honesty, most of those who damage their Time Turners are only made to relive no more than a few days in the most extreme of cases."

"There must be some way," Hermione wondered wildly, imagining Harry and Ron surviving the school year without her. "I mean, I really don't belong here. There _must_ be some other way." Dumbledore shrugged casually, rising from his seat on the bed beside her.

"You never know, Miss Granger," he said vaguely. "This might be exactly where you belong." He patted her on the knee sympathetically as she gaped at him in disbelief. This was something she'd expect from Loony Lovegood, not the greatest wizard of the age!

Dumbledore continued on. "I will look into the matter. Meanwhile, rest and follow Madame Pomfrey's orders. When she releases you, come see me in my office. I daresay you already know where that is?" She nodded. "Excellent. We'll decide what to do about you when you're healthy again." Hermione nodded again, flopping back against her pillows once more as Madame Pomfrey hurried in to check on her.

There's just no way this can be possible, she thought to herself. Is there?

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Early the next morning, Hermione began badgering Madame Pomfrey as soon as she awoke.

"But I feel fine," she protested as the woman bustled around some more. "Honestly, I was just in shock. There's really no reason to keep me here any longer."

"The Headmaster left your care to _my_ discretion, Miss Granger," the woman sniffed. "I will release you only when I see fit."

"Really, Madame Pomfrey, I feel much better than I did yesterday. Besides, I'm only taking up space here. You should keep these beds free for those who truly need them." The older woman looked around the room, her gaze noting pointedly to the girl that there was no one in need of the bed she was occupying, and Hermione frowned crossly.

"Come, now," she urged. "Just let me go, and I'll be out of your hair, I promise." Madame Pomfrey sighed loudly.

"Fine!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "You may leave as soon as you drink this. Get dressed, and I'll get you a pass to the Headmaster's office." Hermione grinned as the woman continued muttering under her breath while she prepared a fresh potion.

Minutes later, Hermione was in her own clothes and robes once again, and she was walking briskly down the corridors. The gargoyles leapt aside as soon as she reached them, allowing Hermione to follow the spiral staircase up.

She tapped on his door, feeling an un-Hermione timidness as he invited her in. Hermione shut the door behind her, and sat in the comfortable arm chair to which the Headmaster pointed her.

"Have you found anything?" she asked quickly, adding a, "sir," when he looked at her oddly. "Sorry, I'm a bit anxious."

"You have every right to be so," he told her kindly. "But I'm afraid my search has been rather fruitless and disappointing. I have yet to find someone who's a living authority on the subject." Hermione bit her lip.

"I was thinking earlier, sir," she began. "What if I was to repair the Time Turner? If it was made whole again, d'you think I might be able to return to my own time?" Dumbledore sighed, looking down his nose at the carpet, then up to the high ceiling. Hermione followed his gaze to see Fawkes, the phoenix, circling lazily overhead.

"It doesn't seem a possibility too out of the question," he murmured, still watching his faithful pet. "However, one would think that you'd have to return every single original grain of sand back within the fully reconstructed hourglass, and frankly, my dear, that does seem unlikely." Hermione frowned.

"There must be some way, Professor," she told him stubbornly. "I couldn't possibly just remain here! There's so much that I might change, so much that could go wrong…" Dumbledore sighed.

"Once again, Miss Granger, you are wise beyond your young years," he said placidly. "However, while you and I think upon the subject, I've decided upon two possible courses of action. You may leave Hogwarts and venture out into the Muggle world while I search for a solution, or you may remain here at the school, and attend classes as a seventh year student." Hermione nodded fervently at the latter option, and Dumbledore clasped his hands atop his desk.

"Wonderful. I would expect nothing less of such a seemingly bright and talented young witch." Hermione blushed, and he went on. "You'll continue as a Gryffindor, since you already know the common room and dormitory. Classes have already begun, and you're a day behind…" Hermione nodded tightly, groaning inwardly. This was nearly her very worst nightmare.

"I've spoken to the teachers, and they've all agreed to allow you to catch up on the work you've missed. The other seventh year Gryffindor girls will, I believe, be more than willing to help you study and prepare."

"Sir, what should I tell them if they ask about me?" she asked.

"The teachers think you're Hermione Granger, a witch who's been tutored at home for her previous magical education. I haven't spoken to the students about you, so besides Mr. Longbottom, you're completely unknown. I would prefer it if you keep your current predicament between the two of us, if you don't mind. There are fewer tricky consequences when less people know."

He picked a bag off the ground beside his desk and handed it over to her. "These are your textbooks. Right now, the N.E.W.T. students are in Herbology, so you should head out to greenhouse number three." Hermione smiled gratefully at him, suddenly overwhelmed.

"Thanks, sir," she told him. "Will you let me know? About what you find, I mean." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'll alert you as soon as I find anything pertinent to your situation," he replied easily. "Now, go find your classmates." Hermione smiled again, leaving his warm and comfortable office behind in her quest for the Herbology greenhouses.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Hermione made her way quickly to class, meeting not a single soul in the process. She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, sighing. After a brief pause, she entered the cozy building, and all eyes were immediately upon her.

"Ah, yes, Miss Granger," called the stout little Professor Sprout. "Over here, dear, I've got a place for you already. Class, this is Hermione Granger. She'll be joining us from now on." Professor Sprout waved her over to a group of three students gathered around a large pot filled with muddy, mulchy earth.

"Catch Miss Granger up on the task for today, won't you?" The two girls and young man all nodded, and Hermione recognized the tall, twig-like Frank Longbottom.

"It's nice to see you again," he told her in an undertone as Professor Sprout continued her lesson. "Are you feeling better?" Hermione nodded, giving him a tentative smile.

"Much," she replied. "Thanks." She noticed that Frank had given Neville his slightly large ears and skinny neck.

"Hermione, this is Stella Craven," Frank said, pointing to a tall, willowy girl with dark, tightly curled hair. She waved, smiling. Hermione returned the wave, and turned to the other girl in their group, to whom Frank was now pointing. "And this is Lily Evans."

Hermione's heart stopped when she found herself looking into green eyes that were intensely familiar – they were an exact replica of Harry's eyes. The girl was of medium height, with beautiful long red hair, but Hermione could hardly believe it. Here, standing before her, was Harry Potter's mother…the one who'd died protecting him before the wand of the most feared wizard of the age.

"It's nice to meet you," Lily whispered. "Frank was worried sick about you yesterday." Hermione could only nod dumbly, forcing herself to look away from Lily and to Stella, who was quickly explaining their project.

Suddenly, a loud crash interrupted everything, and silence permeated the greenhouse. Then, laughter rippled through the students as everyone turned to see a tall, thin, sallow-skinned youth with long dark hair rising from the ground, covered in muck.

"Snivellus, try to keep off the ground, would you?" a voice taunted from the corner. "It must be embarrassing, falling over yourself all the time." The students laughed again, and Hermione leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the speaker. Her throat caught, and she nearly gasped. There was Harry – only it couldn't possibly be Harry. This boy was slightly taller, and his eyes were a dark hazel color.

Hermione quickly connected the dots. A seventh year Lily Evans could only mean that a seventh year James Potter was somewhere nearby. Hermione looked to him again.

There was no mistaking it. This laughing boy was James Potter.

"Boys, settle down, settle down," Professor Sprout called tiredly. "Get to work. I don't want to have to keep you after class." The students returned to their work, but Hermione was distracted. This was all just too overwhelming.

"Why can't they just leave Severus alone?" sighed Lily, sorting through the earth in the pot to find the tiny blue pods.

"It's not in their nature, Lils," Stella reminded her as Frank took his bowl to Professor Sprout. "You know the Marauders. They couldn't possibly leave unscathed the only Slytherin with a brain." She paused, tossing another pod into the glass bowl beside her. "Remus is the only decently behaved one, anyway. You wouldn't catch _him_ being so petty." Lily eyed her friend in amusement.

"It's so funny that you mention Remus," Lily murmured, watching Stella glance over her shoulder. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you like-" Stella jabbed Lily quickly in the ribs with her elbow, blushing when she caught Hermione watching her.

"Never mind that," she muttered. "Never mind." Hermione exchanged a glance with Lily, who rolled her eyes fondly, smiling nonetheless.

They passed the rest of the hour with amiable chatter, slowly filling bowl after bowl of the odd little pods. When Professor Sprout released them for their next lesson, everyone trudged out onto the lawn, heading up to the castle.

"So, Hermione," Lily began as they walked with Stella. "Are you an exchange student?"

"Transfer, actually," she replied, her chest tightening with the lie. "My parents kept me at home, even after I'd been invited to study here. They've had a recent change of heart, and I asked Professor Dumbledore if he'd allow me to finish my education here."

"You're a Gryffindor, then?" wondered Stella, and Hermione nodded. "Brilliant. That makes four of us in the room now." To Hermione's questioning look, she replied, "Before you, there were only three of us in the seventh year girls' dormitory. Me, Lily, and Alice Hollins." She pointed out a girl walking ahead of them with Frank Longbottom. "Alice is Frank's girlfriend, and she spends so much time with him that she's rarely in the dormitory, anyway." A shout came from behind them, and Lily looked over her shoulder only to look forward again with a rolling of her eyes.

"What an arrogant, big-headed jerk," she muttered. Hermione looked back to see James Potter and several other boys laughing with one another.

"The tallest one back there is James Potter," Stella told Hermione. "He fancies Lily."

Lily frowned. "He does not. He just enjoys taunting me." She sighed dramatically. "I'm just frustrated that _James Potter_, of all people, was named Head Boy. I was so sure I'd be paired with Remus for these duties. He _is_ the only well behaved one, after all." She aimed a teasing elbow to the ribs at Stella, who blushed.

"Stella's got a crush on Remus," Hermione sang quietly, raising an eyebrow, with the corner of her mouth pulled up in a quick smile. Stella blushed an even darker shade of red.

"Alright, you two, that's enough!" she said firmly. "I admit nothing, and it will do you no good to continue to pester me!" Lily sighed.

"Anyway, Hermione, what we really mean by all this is that we're glad to have you with us," she told Hermione. "I've got a feeling we'll get along really well this year." Hermione gave her a tentative smile, wondering inwardly whether she'd be present in this time for much longer. Her faith in the genius of Albus Dumbledore was nearly endless.

"So, who's the Charms professor?" she asked quickly to cover her odd silence. "I've heard N.E.W.T. Charms is a tricky subject."

"I've heard the same, but Professor Flitwick is incredible," Stella replied. "He can teach the densest of rocks decent charmwork."

"Even Terrance Nott passed Charms last term," Lily confided in Hermione. "You can't get denser than that."

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_Stella Craven and Lily Evans," murmured Magenta. "That sounds like a good start with your new classmates." Hermione nodded absently, staring into the corner of the room._

"_They were very good to me," she replied. "I was fairly distant with them for a while, but they were patient." She paused. "Looking into Lily's eyes was almost like looking into Harry's eyes, and it was weeks before I could successfully hold a conversation with her without thinking about him."_

"_Did they ever ask more about your past?" Magenta queried._

"_A few times, yes," Hermione responded. "I know that my answers weren't sufficient enough to keep their curiosity at bay, but they kindly accepted the vague answers. Soon enough, they learned not to ask much more. We became so busy with schoolwork that there wasn't much time for anything else._

"_That wasn't, however, the end to my first day," Hermione continued. "It was only the beginning, and I soon learned that memories can haunt the distant past just as much as the distant future."_

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**Well, we're getting into the good stuff now. I expect to have another chapter up within the next week or so, providing that my linear algebra****, vector calc,**** and probability theory classes cooperate with my recreational writing ****schedule.**


	4. Chapter Four

**I came from my university's first baseball game of the season before writing this, and I'd almost forgotten how attractive those guys are. They won the season opener, and I came THIS CLOSE (imagine me holding my forefinger and thumb about an inch apart) to catching a foul ball…so excuse any excessive exuberance in the chapter. I enjoy baseball WAY too much to not have the excitement leak into the other areas of my life.**

**Happy reading!**

**21 February 2011**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money off of this writing. Although I have to say, the new baseball poster that's hanging on the back of my door nearly makes up for the lack of Harry Potter ownership in my life.**

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_So?" prodded Magenta. "What else happened on your first day of classes?" Hermione chuckled._

"_I made some new friends and made a fool of myself at least once," she replied. "As is always the case with hindsight, there are some things I would rather I hadn't done, some things I would rather I hadn't said, but I'll probably never forget my first day of school with my new classmates."_

**ABC****DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Stella and Lily led Hermione to the Great Hall for lunch after their N.E.W.T. Charms class.

"This is the Gryffindor table," Lily told her as they sat down. "The other three houses have their own tables, too."

"I'm starved," Stella muttered. "Wish Flitwick hadn't kept us so long after class."

"Well, you really can't blame him," Hermione added. "I'd be annoyed if someone tried a Permanent Sticking Charm on me. It would suck to have to be stuck to the back of your classroom door forever." Stella considered this, and nodded.

"That would suck," she agreed. "Eric Lundy had that detention coming though! What a moron, plagiarizing an essay from the Charms text." Frank Longbottom and his girlfriend sat down at the table as well.

"Hello," the girl said to Hermione warmly. "I'm Alice Hollins, your other roommate." Hermione smiled, shaking her hand.

"It's really nice to meet you, Alice," she replied. "Frank's told me some really nice things about you." Alice blushed, and Frank smiled.

"So, what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" he asked as they ate. Hermione shrugged, preparing to tell her lies.

"I dunno," she told him. "I like it here, but it's so different from learning at home. I do rather like having different professors for the different subjects, though. Just learning from my dad was a bummer."

"I can't wait till we have Ancient Runes tomorrow," Lily added excitedly. "You're going to love it. Professor Vector's one of the best teachers here."

"_I_ just wish Flitwick and Sprout hadn't given us so much homework," groaned Stella. "I'd hoped to actually get some sleep tonight, but it looks like that isn't going to happen."

"What do you need sleep for? You're a Gryffindor!" Lily said primly. "Sleep is for chumps."

"And though you are many things, Lily, dear, a chump is not one of them," said a deep voice from across the table. Hermione looked up to see James Potter sitting down, with two other boys by his side. He reached his hand across the table to Hermione. "James Potter, at your service." Hermione smiled tentatively, shaking his hand.

"Hermione Granger," she told him. He nodded, pointing to the boys sitting beside him.

"That's Peter Pettigrew," he said, indicating a small, rather round boy with short hair and a pink face. "And that's Remus Lupin." This boy was indeed very similar to the grown Professor Remus J. Lupin that Hermione knew from her third year at Hogwarts. He had sandy brown hair, though his face and arms were much less scarred than his older counterpart.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione," Remus added. "That was some pretty impressive spellwork you did in Flitwick's class. Where did you learn to perform such an effective Severing Charm?" Hermione giggled.

"I had a friend once whose dress robes were atrociously covered in lace," she replied, picking up her goblet of iced pumpkin juice. "Before we went to a Christmas party when we were fourteen, he begged me to make them look less horrifying. I had plenty of practice on that little project alone."

"Hey, where's Sirius?" Frank asked. "He's the only seventh year Gryffindor Hermione hasn't met yet." Hermione bit her lip. The Sirius of her childhood had been killed at the Ministry of Magic when she was fifteen. What would it be like to see him in the prime of his youth?

James jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "Sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Erica. She pretended to cry until he promised to sit with her." Remus rolled his eyes.

"That girl's getting a bit too needy for a girlfriend, if you ask me," he muttered, and Stella giggled. He smiled at her. Lily and Hermione glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. Stella noticed this and cleared her throat, blushing.

"So, Lily, flower of my heart," James began. Lily rolled her eyes, and James grinned. "We still doing patrol duty tonight?" She nodded, pushing her potatoes around on her plate.

"Meet me in the common room at eleven o'clock," she replied. "And show up on time tonight. I've got Ancient Runes first thing in the morning." James smiled widely at her, and then assumed an expression of deep hurt.

"Oh, Lily, you wound me so!" he cried theatrically. "When have I ever been late to patrol duty?" Stella snorted into her pumpkin juice.

"Nearly every single time," Lily told him matter-of-factly. "So upset tradition tonight, would you?" James beamed into his chicken.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Later that afternoon, Lily, Hermione, Stella, Remus, and James walked into N.E.W.T. Potions to find a very wide, very red-faced professor standing before three cauldrons.

"Welcome, welcome!" Professor Horace Slughorn cried, beaming at the seventh year students. He had a lot more hair now than he did the last time Hermione had seen him. Age really didn't suit the rotund Horace Slughorn.

"I'm so glad to see that so many of you are interested in the highest level of Potions class that is offered here at Hogwarts! We'll give it a few more minutes and wait for the stragglers before we begin." Hermione looked around. There were five Gryffindors, one Hufflepuff, four Ravenclaws, and three Slytherins. There had been only twelve students in her sixth year Potions class with Slughorn.

A moment later, a tall, handsome boy walked into the dungeon, with a small, dainty girl attached to his arm.

"I'm gonna go sit with my friends," he told the girl, who pouted up at him. "Really, you should go with the other Ravenclaws." She shrugged, releasing his arm.

"I'll see you after class," she whispered loudly, winking at him with the whole class watching. Lily caught Hermione's eye and pretended to gag. Hermione giggled quietly beneath her hand as the boy came to join the Gryffindor table. He noticed her sitting between Lily and Remus, and raised an eyebrow.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Slughorn waddled back up to the front of the dungeon classroom at that moment.

"Welcome, one and all!" he boomed. "Congratulations for making it through six years of your magical education unscathed."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say we're 'unscathed,'" said the Hufflepuff boy, and the class chuckled quietly. "McGonagall's exam last term was killer." Slughorn grinned at him approvingly.

"We'll see if we can't make this year worth the work, DiBrooks," he said. Slughorn clapped his hands together. "Now, I've prepared a little exercise for us today, just to make sure you haven't all let your brains leak out your ears during the summer holidays.

"The three cauldrons I have here contain three different potions," he continued. "They're three of the most difficult potions in the world to brew, and they force even the most skilled potion-makers to second guess every step. Ten points to each student who can correctly guess the name of the potion based on its physical characteristics." Hermione nearly rolled her eyes. Some things never changed, and Slughorn loved his impressive theatrics.

A hand was in the air before most of the students could take a good look at the potions.

"Yes, Mr. Snape," called Slughorn. "Have you the name of the first potion?"

"It must be Veritaserum, sir," he replied in a quiet voice. "It's got neither color nor odor, but it forces the drinker to tell the absolute truth."

"Well done!" beamed Slughorn. "Take five points for Slytherin. Alright, somebody else, what have we got in this cauldron?" Lily's hand was in the air first.

"It's Amortentia," she told him. "The most powerful love potion known to man. It's got a mother-of-pearl sheen to the surface, and it's said to smell differently to everyone depending on what attracts us. It's actually illegal to brew and sell on a commercial basis in Britain, because it creates infatuation and obsession so powerful that most wizards and witches cannot resist its power."

"Correct!" cried Slughorn, grinning at Lily. "Five points to Gryffindor. I'm glad to see that the Head Girl is up on her summer studies!" Lily's face flushed, and she looked down into her copy of _Advance__d Potion-Making_.

"And who can tell me what's in this cauldron?" Slughorn asked, pointing to it. The potion was of a radiant gold color that was burbling merrily in the small cauldron. Everyone watched the liquid move in happy circles, but no one offered an answer. "It's a most unusual potion, and therefore should be fairly easy to identify by its physical characteristics. Anybody?" Hermione sighed inwardly, and raised her hand slowly. "Yes, you, young lady. What have we got here?"

"It's Felix Felicis," she told him. "Informally known as liquid luck. It will make the drinker lucky, though the effects will wear off usually within twenty-four hours, although when brewed and dosed improperly, giddiness and lack of caution can result in serious injury." The class was immediately silent. Slughorn paused, shocked. Hermione blushed.

"E-excellent," he stuttered finally. "What's your name, young lady?"

"Hermione Granger," she replied, and he nodded fervently.

"Right, right, Dumbledore told me we'd be seeing a new student this year," he said easily. "Well spotted, Miss Granger. You're the only student in my twenty some years of teaching who's been able to correctly guess that this tricky little potion is in fact Felix Felicis." He dipped a vial into the potion and stoppered it. He handed it to Hermione. "Take this for impressing me on your first day. And take ten points to Gryffindor. Well spotted indeed!" Slughorn bustled around to his desk, and Hermione looked at the tiny bottle in her hand.

In twenty years, Harry would be the one receiving the prize, thanks to the help of the Half Blood Prince.

Hermione ignored her table mates' curious glances and looked over to where the Slytherins were gathered. A young Severus Snape, the Half Blood Prince himself, was already scribbling away in his brand new copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_, his long hair hiding most of his face.

Hermione sighed inwardly, forcing herself to return to reality as Slughorn described their task for the day.

"You have ninety minutes to produce the potion found on page fourteen of your textbooks," he was telling the students. "After that, leave me a sample of your finished product labeled with your name on my desk." He beamed around at them. "Well, go on. Begin!"

"Brilliant, Hermione," James told her, dragging his cauldron up onto the bench. "Really, I had absolutely no idea what that potion could have been."

"No kidding," Lily agreed. "I wouldn't have even have begun to know what Felix Felicis looks like. How did you know?" Hermione shrugged, flipping through the pages of her text.

"I read a lot," she said flippantly. "No big deal."

"Just what we need," drawled the boy who'd joined them. "Another bookworm." Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she looked over at him.

His eyes weren't haunted as they had been the last time she'd seen him, but there was no mistaking this man.

"Hermione, this is Sirius," Stella introduced quickly. "Sirius, this is Hermione. We like her, so don't be an ass." Sirius smiled lazily, waving at Hermione.

"You'll fit right in with Lily and Stella," he told her seriously. "They're right little bookworms, too." This time, Hermione _did_ roll her eyes.

"Just what _I_ need," she mimicked. "Another condescending smartass." Sirius's grin fell, but Lily, Stella, James, and Remus all laughed. Sirius opened his mouth to retort.

"Well, well," Slughorn interrupted bustling over to their table. "Let's get working, you lot! I have high expectations for all of you. You especially, Miss Granger. That was an extraordinary show of knowledge today." Hermione nodded briefly. "Eighty-six minutes left!" When he left, Hermione sneaked a sidelong glance over to Sirius, who was frowning as he began his potion.

When Slughorn finally shouted, "Time's up! You're dismissed as soon as your sample is on my desk," the seventh year students were hurriedly finishing their potions. Hermione was done quickly and was the first to pack up and leave for dinner.

"We'll meet you in the Great Hall," Lily assured her as she and Stella were cleaning up. "Go on ahead." A minute later, Hermione heard someone behind her.

"Hermione Granger?" asked a curious voice, and Hermione looked to see Severus Snape catching up with her.

"Yes?" She stopped, and he held out his hand to her. Surprised, she shook it.

"Severus Snape," he told her. "Seventh year Slytherin." Hermione nodded.

"Hello, Severus." He looked quickly around, and relaxed visibly when he confirmed that there was no one else around.

"That was remarkable, what you did in class today," he told her in an undertone, and they continued walking. "I was expecting to write you off as another smug, moronic Gryffindor." Hermione smiled hesitantly, unsure of how to react to the future Potions Master.

"It wasn't really a big deal," she repeated. "I do a lot of reading." Snape nodded.

"It looks like you'll be taking Evans's place as my biggest competition in Potions this year," he continued, and Hermione shook her head.

"Not likely," she told him. "I got lucky with Felix Felicis today, excuse the pun. Lily really is far smarter than I am." Snape nodded curtly.

"It's time I left," he said. "It wouldn't do for anyone to see a Slytherin and Gryffindor speaking in civil tones." Hermione smiled wryly as he walked ahead of her. She slowed to allow him to reach the Great Hall first, contemplating the future.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"I'm impressed with you," Remus told Hermione as he sat down beside her at the Gryffindor table. He was the first of the others to arrive from Potions.

"About the Felix Felicis thing?" she wondered, pouring herself some grape juice. "Because honestly, it wasn't a big deal." Remus shook his head.

"No, not about that," he said, almost impatiently. "About calling Sirius a condescending smartass." Hermione's ears were tinged with red. "Most girls can't get the words out fast enough to tell him that he's good looking."

"I shouldn't have done that, you know," she said ruefully. "I let my temper get out of hand."

"No, no," Remus interrupted quickly. "It was brilliant. Sirius needs someone to put him in his place every once in a while. Otherwise, his ego gets way out of hand."

"Too right," James agreed, sitting across from them with Stella. "Sometimes, I wonder how he can hold his head up, what with all that ego stuffed in there. He's sitting with Erica again, hoping she'll expand his deflated pride once more."

Hermione smiled wryly. "Where's Lily?" James rolled his eyes, stuffing more bread into his mouth.

"With Slughorn," Stella replied for James as he chewed. "He probably wants to schedule Slug Club meetings around her Head Girl duties." Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Slug Club?" she repeated, playing dumb. Of course she already knew about Slughorn's club of favorite students, but her friends thought she was a brand new student.

"Slughorn likes to collect students who're connected to someone famous, or who show the potential to become important or famous in the future," Remus explained. "Naturally, he loves Lily, because she's got the best grades of our year."

"It's bloody ridiculous, if you ask me," muttered James.

"Well, nobody _did_ ask you," Lily interjected, sitting down on Hermione's other side. James choked on his food, and Stella patted him on the back, clearing his throat. Lily ignored this and handed Hermione an envelope. "Slughorn's inviting you to come meet with us next week. He thinks you've a promising future in potion-making."

"Er-thanks," Hermione said, stuffing the envelope into her book bag.

"D'you play any Quidditch, Hermione?" James asked after an awkward pause in which Lily sat down and began to eat. "We start tryouts this weekend if you'd like to be on the Gryffindor team. We need a couple of Chasers and a Beater after we lost a lot of seventh years last year." Hermione snorted into her soup, but quickly stopped laughing when everyone looked at her oddly.

"Oh, you were serious," she said. "Sorry. I don't fly or play Quidditch. I, er, have a bit of a problem with broomsticks."

"What's that?" asked Peter, coming to sit beside James across the table.

"I fall off them a lot," she muttered

There was a moment's pause. Then, laughter broke out among the others. Lily patted her hand.

"This is good, then," she said cheerily. "You can sit in the stands and watch with us. When's Gryffindor's first game?"

"Three weeks from Saturday," James replied.

"It's much more fun in the stands with us than actually playing," Stella pointed out. "Your hair will much appreciate it." Hermione put a hand to her bushy head of hair.

"Well, my hair doesn't appreciate much of anything," she added dryly, "so I might as well give it a shot."

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Later that evening, the three girls were up in their dormitory room with their books spread out over their beds. Fresh rolls of parchment were lined up, and several empty bottles of ink littered the floor.

Finally, Stella threw down her quill as she yawned for the hundredth time that night.

"Honestly, are they trying to kill us?" she wondered as Hermione and Lily followed suit and took a break. "It's only the second day of classes!" Lily groaned.

"I wonder if this is their way of punishing us for Valentine's Day last year," she wondered, flopping backward onto her pillows. "Because this is truly madness."

"Nah, there's no way they could know that was us," Stella said firmly. "We covered our tracks too well." Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Do I even want to know?" she asked, and the girls exchanged a glance.

"I think we should tell her," Lily suggested. "She _will_ be living with us for the rest of the year. I think she deserves to know." Stella nodded.

"Plus, she's clever," she reminded Lily. "She's probably got better tricks up her sleeve from all that time she spent at home, and all." Lily agreed.

"What in the name of Merlin did you do?" Hermione asked warily.

"The day before Valentine's Day last year, the teachers loaded us all with an insane amount of homework hoping that, in result, students would be less inclined to spend that night or the next day snogging their significant others," Lily explained, and Hermione sniggered.

"Like that would actually work," she muttered, and Lily nodded.

"Everyone was angry," Stella continued. "But nobody was going into action. Even the Marauders – James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus – were too tired to do anything but their assignments."

"We," said Lily, motioning between herself and Stella, "decided to do something about it." Hermione sat up straighter.

"No," she whispered. "You pranked the teachers?" The other girls burst into laughter. "You did! What did you do?"

"We persuaded Hagrid, the gamekeeper, to let us borrow some of the garden gnomes he lets loose in the Forbidden Forest in exchange for an Engorgement Charm on the tomatoes in his garden," Lily told her. "And we charmed them to sing soppy love ballads for a full twenty-four hours."

"Then, we set them on the teachers," Stella added. "One gnome per teacher. Needless to say, twenty-four hours later our workload suddenly vanished." Hermione began to giggle, and then she imagined Professor McGonagall in her tartan nightdress, being pursued by an ugly little potato-headed gnome. Then, she laughed even harder.

The other two joined in, and for a full five minutes, not one of the girls could stop the mirth. Alice joined them in the room then, and the three forced themselves to subdue their giggles.

"What's going on with you girls?" she asked, smiling as they began to laugh again. When they finally managed to calm themselves, Alice said, "Lily, James is in the common room. He told me to remind you that you've got Head patrolling to do tonight." Lily sobered up instantly, looking at her watch.

"Damn," she muttered, scrambling to her feet and pulling her shoes back on. "Thanks, Alice. It's nearly eleven. Imagine if I was late after lecturing James about it?" Stella snorted.

"I think it's physically impossible for you to be late to anything," she said. "If you _were_ late, the earth would implode, or something." Lily stuck her tongue out at her as she pulled her hair back and jammed her wand into her pocket.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours," she told them. "Don't wait up for me." She was gone a moment later, and Stella began to shove her books into her bag.

"I don't know about you, but I'm beat," she said as Alice pulled out her pajamas. "I think I'll take a leaf from Alice's book and hit the sack." Hermione nodded, putting her books away as well.

"I think I'm going to go down and read for a little bit," she told the others. "I'll be back up in a little while." She picked up the copy of _Hogwarts: a History_ that she'd pulled from the library just before lunch and trekked down the stairs to the common room. It was empty already, which surprised Hermione. In her time, students were downstairs till at least one or two in the morning, either doing homework, or testing illegal prank products on unsuspecting first year students. She chuckled quietly. She didn't think much of the Weasley twins' rule breaking, but she had to admit – their business was more successful than she ever could have imagined.

Hermione settled herself into a comfortable chair by the fire and opened the book. She'd read it so many times that she already knew the stories, but the rich histories never failed to make her proud to be a witch, regardless of her blood status.

She'd been reading for quite some time before she saw anyone else. Remus dropped into the arm chair across from her, looking into the fire. Hermione looked up at him, noticing that his face was pale and drawn.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked, and he nodded tiredly.

"I've just got a lot of school work," he explained. "I leave tomorrow afternoon and won't be back till Friday for classes, so there are things I have to get done before I leave." Hermione thought for a moment, and realized that the full moon must be the next night. Remus would probably spend Thursday in the hospital wing, recovering.

"You're going somewhere?" she asked practically, playing dumb again, and he nodded.

"My mother's been ill for quite some time now," he told her, and Hermione could see in his eyes the unease at telling her the lie. "I go and visit home often to help my dad out. He needs a break from taking care of her sometimes." Hermione's chest tightened as she watched him sigh.

"That's sweet of you," she replied, her voice a little uneven. Remus didn't seem to notice, though, and he continued to gaze at the fire. "Have you got any siblings?" He shook his head.

"My parents wanted to have another child after me, but then, uh, my mum got sick, so it's just me." Hermione nodded, understanding more than he realized.

"That's what you have the Marauders for, right?" she asked with a tiny smile. He smiled back at her.

"James, Peter, and Sirius are better friends than I ever could have asked for," he told her, chuckling. "Sometimes, I think of them as my brothers, rather than friends. I love them like brothers, anyway."

"That sounds nice," Hermione replied sincerely. She looked at the clock on the mantel. It was a quarter after midnight. "We should both probably get some sleep. You look half dead, Remus." He laughed, running a hand over his face.

"I feel it, too," he told her, chuckling. The stood, and then parted ways at the separate staircases. "Hey, Hermione?"

"Yes?" He paused for a moment, pushing his hand through his hair again.

"Tell Stella goodnight for me, would you?" he asked, blushing when Hermione looked knowingly at him.

"I will," she replied. "Goodnight, Remus." He waved and climbed up the boys' staircase. Hermione made to do the same, but the portrait entrance to the common room slammed open and shut as someone entered. Hermione looked over to see Sirius stomping in, muttering to himself.

"Bloody bird," he growled. "So _clingy_. Can't she just spend fifteen _minutes_ on her own?" Hermione hopped a step on the staircase, hiding in the shadows as Sirius continued on to the boys' dormitory.

Uh oh, Hermione thought. Trouble in paradise. Erica's got to watch herself. Sirius Black might not be content to be her boyfriend for very much longer.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_Hermione Granger is afraid of flying?" noted Magenta, a look of surprise on her face. "I didn't think you were afraid of anything." Hermione giggled, taking a sip of her gillywater._

"_I don't think I'm afraid of flying so much as I _can't_ fly," she corrected the reporter, who chuckled. "I've never been able to stay on a broomstick for more than about three seconds. I'm not quite sure why that is."_

"_Well, one person c__an't be good at _everything_," Magenta consoled her. "Your teachers seem to think highly of you. Horace Slughorn invited you to join his club?" Hermione nodded__ and sighed._

"_I was never very fond of Professor Slughorn during my sixth year because he thought so little of Ron, so I'd planned on declining his invitation. Any teacher who deems to make some students feel inferior to others because they have other ways of showing their potential should be ashamed of themselves." Magenta paused, looking up at Hermione._

"_Are you sure you want me to be taking that down, Miss Granger?" she asked hesitantly. "I know for a fact that Mr. Slughorn will be reading this. He sends me notes all the time, reminding me that he was friends with my mother, giving me his two Knuts worth of input, etc." Hermione smiled._

"_Professor Slughorn knows exactly how I feel about him and his club," she placated the writer. "This will not come as news to him. He's a good sport about it, anyway." Magenta nodded and continued writing._

"_How did you feel at the end of the day? It had to have been pretty overwhelming for you." Hermione shrugged._

"_I suppose you could say I've always been a good compartmentalizer," she said. "I felt fine, emotionally, even though I really should have been more upset than I actually was. Missing Harry and Ron, though, were the hardest parts of the day."_

"_So, what about Remus Lupin and Stella Craven?" she asked. "Oh, and whatever came of Quidditch tryouts?" Hermione laughed._

"_It's funny you should mention the__ Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts…"_


	5. Chapter Five

**Sorry for the delay…my schoolwork suddenly demanded more attention, and my only coworker at the smoothie shop decided that she was going to catch the flu, so I took on a few more shifts during the last couple of weeks. Damn you, flu season!**

**Happy reading!**

**10 March 2011**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm not making monetary profit from this writing. Sometimes, it makes me feel better to pretend that I **_**am**_** the genius behind Harry Potter, bu****t since my name isn't JK Rowling, that particular fantasy is usually cut short by an unfortunate and imaginary backhand from reality.**

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"_Did it get any easier, though, missing your friends?" Magenta asked carefully, peering at Hermione over her newest sheaf of parchment._

"_It did get easier eventually, but not for a long time. I'd gone from being with them all the time at school, to their not existing in my new world. I even began to miss Ron's disgusting eating habits, if you can believe that._

"_No, my homesickness got even worse before it got better."_

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRDTUVWXYZ**

Hermione awoke early on Saturday, yawning as she looked at the clock. Groaning, she dragged herself out of bed and bathed, dressing before any of the other three girls had stirred. She tiptoed down to the Great Hall, intending to eat quickly and spend the morning in the library researching time travelling.

When she got to the Gryffindor table, however, she noticed that Sirius was already present, staring unhappily into his porridge. Hermione sat across from him, pulling a jug of orange juice toward her. She actually felt a little guilty for snubbing him earlier in the week, and this was the perfect time to apologize…when no one else was around to see her with her pride at its lowest.

Sirius looked up at her blearily, and frowned.

"Morning, Sirius," Hermione greeted him brightly, starting in on her toast. He grunted a noncommittal response. "Listen, about the other day in Potions - I didn't mean to be so irritable. You could call it a defense mechanism, I suppose. I don't do well with new people, and Hogwarts is overwhelming." Sirius smirked at her, inflating a little as he sat up straighter.

"I suppose I could forgive you," he said, stretching. "After all, few girls can last without my speaking to them for very long." Hermione's eyes narrowed, but Sirius was too busy ladling honey into his bowl to notice the warning sign.

"For your information, Sirius Black," she hissed in a low voice, and he looked up, surprised at her tone. "I can do very well without you in my life. I did just fine for nearly seventeen years, and I won't hesitate to go another seventeen without a pompous, arrogant jerk like you making me feel like a secondhand citizen." Sirius's eyes were wide, his mouth slightly agape. Hermione shoved away from the table and angrily stalked off, leaving her breakfast behind as she headed to the library.

If Hermione was being honest with herself, her reaction was most emotional. The middle-aged Sirius was so different from the Sirius in his school-age years, and seeing his eyes without the shadow of a twelve year imprisonment in Azkaban was overwhelming.

She sighed and held herself straighter as she walked through the halls. The seventeen-year-old Sirius Black might be handsome and charming, but Hermione wasn't about to let him push her around as he had done the other girls at Hogwarts. She was just going to have to show him that she was immune to his charm.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMN****OPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Hermione groaned after spending nearly three fruitless hours in the library. She shoved the books away from her, yawning. She'd only just begun looking into the section on time travelling, and the resources were so vast that she felt as though she'd never find the answer she was looking for, no matter how long she spent wading through the dense tomes of information. If her current frustration were any measure of the future to come, there'd be little she could do to improve her chances of getting home.

Looking out the window she saw a clear blue sky, the sun smiling down upon the picturesque grounds.

"Time for a break," she sighed to herself, setting the books aside and leaving the dim, dusty library.

Outside, Hermione looked to the trees by the lake, remembering the hours upon hours that she, Harry, and Ron had spent beneath them, languishing in exhilarated freedom after exams and alternately cursing Snape and Trelawney in the same breath.

Instead of making her way to the lake as she might have done in her own time, she found herself moving in the direction of the Quidditch pitch, the green grass swaying lazily with a gentle breeze. The cloudless sky allowed the early autumn sun to shine brightly on her face as she lay back on the ground at the edge of the pitch. She nearly fell asleep in the warmth and comfort, but she heard someone calling her name at the edge of her consciousness, and she sat up slowly, reluctant to lose her temporary peace.

"Hey, Hermione," James called in a friendly voice. "Change your mind about Quidditch tryouts?" Hermione laughed as he, Peter, and Remus walked to her.

"Hardly," she told him, looking up at them. "I'm just here for the nice day."

"Brilliant conditions for training," James noted, looking around at the sky. "Not a cloud in sight." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Is he always this way?" she asked the others, who snorted. James pretended not to hear her and turned away indignantly.

"Always," Peter replied jokingly, looking over at James somewhat adoringly. "But they did make him Captain, so I suppose you could say it paid off." James thrust his shoulders back and mounted his broom.

"I'll just take a quick spin around the pitch, just to check things out," he told them absently, already kicking off the ground. Remus and Peter dropped the wooden chest of Quidditch balls and joined Hermione on the ground.

"Are you two on the team?" Hermione inquired, leaning back on her hands.

"Absolutely not," Remus told her proudly. "I've enough sense to stay far away from a sport where blood is a badge of honor. No, I prefer to watch, and keep my bones intact, thank you very much." Hermione laughed, looking to Peter kindly.

"I'm not coordinated enough to ride a broomstick for long," he said wistfully, watching James thread between the fifty-foot hoops. "Wish I was, though. It looks like fun." Hermione knew, of course, that Peter'd been the one to betray James and Lily in the future, but how could someone so seemingly benign truly come to be the cause of such tragedy?

"I'm sure the celebrity status isn't bad, either," Remus agreed. "No, Pete and I are spectators. James and Sirius are the stars. We're the reasonable half of the Marauders, that's for sure." They watched James for several minutes in companionable silence.

"So where is everyone, then?" Hermione asked suddenly, looking around. They were the only ones at the pitch. "I thought there were positions to fill on the team."

"Oh, there are," Peter told her. "James likes to come and work a bit on his own before tryouts to, you know, get a feel for things, I guess." He shrugged and looked away. "We're just here to let the balls loose when he wants a go with them."

"Tryouts aren't for another couple of hours," Remus added, yawning. "Wish I'd brought my books. I've got Transfiguration to catch up on. McGonagall's got me by surprise by assigning Texture Shift Spells so early in the term." Hermione studied him surreptitiously. There were bags beneath his eyes, and several fresh scratches on his neck and arms from the recent full moon.

"How's your mum?" she asked, playing along with his cover story.

"Good enough this month," he replied absently. "I'll go back in another month to check on things." He flopped back onto the grass. "Blimey, I wish every day was this beautiful." Hermione laughed in agreement, looking back up at the sky.

"Where is he?" asked an abrupt voice behind them. Hermione turned to see Sirius glowering down at them, his broomstick over his shoulder.

"Up there, mate," Peter squeaked, and Sirius muttered something that was probably nasty before joining James in the sky. Remus sat up and frowned.

"What's the matter with him?" he wondered, and Hermione shrugged, looking off into the distance.

"Hey!" called someone else, and they turned to see Frank, Alice, Lily, and Stella ambling toward them.

"Hi, guys," Peter greeted them in a small voice, and Alice smiled at him warmly.

"Are you here to watch the pre-tryout show?" Stella asked, and they nodded. "It never gets old, watching those guys fly around. They may have huge egos, but they're both really talented flyers." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't let James hear you," she muttered exasperatedly. "To give him more reason to strut around this place is exactly what we don't need."

"D'you want to join us up in the stands?" Frank asked, swinging Alice's hand back and forth.

"I don't know," hesitated Hermione. "I've really got a lot of work to do today."

"Oh, stay with us," begged Stella. "We can finish Slughorn's essay tomorrow. I already promised Lily we could spend the day in the library, anyway."

"I suppose I could do that," she agreed, resigning herself to a day of research lost. It's okay, she told herself. There'll be plenty more days to spend in the library. Anyway, Dumbledore might find something out from his own research.

Two and a quarter hours later, Gryffindors of all ages began to trudge up to the pitch, clutching their brooms nervously. The girls all tittered, smoothing back their hair and straightening their robes when James and Sirius joined them on the ground and began explaining the drills. Soon enough, James began weeding out the bad flyers and giggling girls, paring the group down to seven finalists.

The prospective Chasers were set to the task of attempting to score goals on fifth year Benjamin Xavier, the reigning Gryffindor Keeper. James and sixth year Chaser Heidi Cox supervised this while leaving to Sirius, who was the remaining Beater on the team, the task of working with the three new potential Beaters.

Hermione was chatting with Remus and Alice for several minutes before she noticed a commotion on one end of the pitch. Sirius was shouting at Holly Meeker, a fourth year Gryffindor girl, for reasons unknown, and Holly was reduced nearly to tears. Remus and Peter raced down to the grass, calling James's attention and converging upon Sirius. The three candidates for Beater quickly left the four Marauders alone while Benjamin and Heidi continued working with the four potential Chasers.

For several minutes, it appeared to be a shouting match between James and Sirius, but it was quickly ended when James pointed Sirius away from the pitch. Sirius stalked away angrily, throwing down his broom and tossing his Quidditch robes to the ground.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Lily breathed, looking to Hermione and Stella with her eyebrows raised. Remus and Peter joined them again a moment later.

"Hermione, why didn't you tell us you had another run-in with Sirius this morning?" Remus asked, and everyone looked to her expectantly.

"I didn't think it was important," she sighed. "I lost my temper, and I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Hermione, Sirius is a proud man," Remus said exasperatedly. "He doesn't like it when people challenge his authority, especially when it's a pretty girl who hasn't succumbed to his infinite charms." He sighed again. "Just let us know if he ever does it again. He's one of my best mates, but it doesn't mean he can treat people terribly." Hermione nodded absently, looking off into the distance. Her friends went back to talking around her, but she remained quiet, watching the remainder of the tryouts progress.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

At dinner that evening, Hermione noticed the more than conspicuous absence of Sirius, and it appeared as though she wasn't the only one. Erica Lange made more than one inquiry as to his whereabouts to the Marauders, but each time returned to the Ravenclaw table, disappointed.

"You any good at chess?" Stella asked Hermione, who laughed, throwing her head back.

"Merlin, absolutely not," she told her breathlessly, still shaking with mirth. "Chess, along with Quidditch, is one of the many things at which I am hopeless."

"We'll change that," Remus told her confidently, gesturing to Stella. "Stella and I can take on the whole of Gryffindor tower at Christmastime." Stella blushed when Remus looked to her, and he gave her a shy smile.

"Well, it's an intriguing offer," Hermione began, "but I'm afraid I'll just leave you two to challenge each other. Adding another chess whiz to the mix might force the world to implode upon itself." There was laughter all around, and Hermione looked out the windows. The sun was going down, and it would be getting chilly soon, no doubt. No matter how the others agreed that she was in the right, she still felt she needed to settle things personally with Sirius, and that wouldn't happen if he got himself killed, wandering around at night in the Forbidden Forest.

"I'll meet you in the common room," she told Lily and Stella when they questioned her. "Don't worry, I'll see you soon."

"Alright, but if we don't see you in an hour, we're telling Dumbledore and bringing reinforcements," Lily threatened. "Be careful out there." Hermione waved them off and left the Great Hall, walking into the dusky evening.

Ten minutes later, she found herself at the edge of the Quidditch pitch. Looking around, she saw Sirius up in the stands. She climbed the stairs and quietly made her way to him, sitting beside him on the bench.

"Come to yell at me again?" he asked crossly, staring down at his feet. "To put me in my rightful place?" Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his antics.

"No." There was silence for several moments.

"Then why _are_ you here?" Hermione thought for a moment, but shrugged.

"When I was fourteen, I got into another fight with one of my best friends," she told him. "It wasn't unlike any other fight we'd ever had, but it was a fight nonetheless. I'd agreed to attend a ball with someone that he considered to be an enemy, and we had a fantastic row about it. I told him to ask me to the next ball before someone else did, and he was offended." She paused.

"It was weeks until we spoke to each other normally again. Then, we'd have another fight, yell at each other some more, then have another period of silence. In our six years of friendship, the cycle repeated itself more times than I thought possible. We were probably in disagreements more often than we got along.

"We remained friends, and I'd always thought that someday, we'd actually get along. That maybe then, I could finally address some of the romantic feelings I had for him. Were we destined to fall in love, or just be friends? I dunno. I wish I'd had the opportunity to make up with him and know where we stood."

Several minutes passed in silence.

"What's your point?" Sirius asked, not unkindly.

"I don't want to lose out on a friendship with you just because we've had some disagreements," she replied. "Your friends love you, and I feel like I'm missing out on something good." Hermione hesitated. "I don't mean to unnecessarily inflate your ego, but I'd hate for us to never get along." Sirius sighed heavily, rubbing his face with his hands and leaning back against the bench behind them.

"I barely know you, Hermione," he began. "And I've already been a colossal jerk to you. I dunno, it might just be that I've never had a girl stand up to me like that. I mean, Lily and Stella've never been as susceptible to my charm as the other girls in school, but they've never actually called me out on it before." Another silence ensued.

"You're just not what I expected," he finished lamely. Hermione shrugged.

"I get that sometimes," she told him. "I'm sorry for wounding your pride and losing my temper. I hope I can keep better control of it so I don't damage potential friendships."

"Damn it, Hermione," Sirius muttered, and she stopped. "Don't apologize to me. I'm a proud person, but so are you, and you have every right to be. I probably deserved what you gave me, and Remus says it'll be good to have someone around who's not afraid to let me know when I'm being an ass." The words came out jumbled and rushed, and Hermione could tell that he wasn't entirely comfortable with the admission.

"Truce?" she offered, and he looked over at her, an eyebrow raised. He chuckled and nodded.

"Truce," he agreed. "This is a little new for me." Hermione snorted.

"For me, too. We'll work it out as we go."

"Sounds good to me," he sighed. They rested comfortably for a minute. "What's his name, anyway?"

"Whom?"

"The friend you always fight with," Sirius clarified.

"Oh," Hermione sighed. "Ron. He and Harry are my best friends in the world, and I miss them more than I thought possible." Sirius nudged her with his elbow.

"Hey, you can always see them at Christmas," he reminded her. "And Easter. It's not like you'll never see them again." Hermione smiled wryly at him, her chest tightening with sadness. She wasn't quite sure if that was true, because she didn't know when, or if, she'd ever return home.

"Thanks," she said. "Anyway, we'd better get back to the castle. Lily said she'd send Dumbledore after me if I wasn't back in an hour. I haven't known her for that long, but I'm gonna guess that Lily's the type to jump the gun." She and Sirius stood, climbing down the stairs to the grass.

"Jump the what?" he asked, frowning. Hermione laughed.

"It's a Muggle expression," she told him. "Forget it. Why's she so worried?" Sirius stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know if you've been following the news," he started, "but some bad stuff's been going on for the last few years. A dark wizard's been gathering power and followers, and the Ministry hasn't exactly been able to stop bad things from happening."

"Lord Voldemort?" Hermione guessed, and Sirius nodded.

"Some people are afraid of even saying the name," he told her.

"Are you?"

"No, I don't think so," he replied off-handedly. "My family hasn't aligned themselves with him, but they haven't exactly denounced him, either. They pretty much think he's got the right idea, even if they're too afraid of backlash to join him. I think I choose not to say the name because I just don't want to be associated with my family." Hermione frowned as they reached the Entrance Hall.

"You don't get along with your family?"

"I don't," Sirius confirmed. "I never did, and I never will. I'm just not like them." When Hermione pressed him further, he didn't say much else, so she dropped the subject. When they got to the Common Room, they found their friends at a table near the fire, gathered around a wizard chess board.

"Come on, Pete, you can take him!" shouted James. "You can beat him, Wormy!" He, Lily, Alice, Frank, and some younger Gryffindors were all clustered behind Peter's chair. Remus sat opposite him, concentrating on the board.

"Who's winning?" asked Sirius when they reached the table. Peter's crowd of fans shushed him, and Sirius exchanged amused glances with Hermione.

"They're trying to help Peter beat me," Remus explained, watching the pieces as they grew more restless, shoving each other around. "Never mind the fact that Peter's never played in his life."

"There's a reason for that," Peter wailed. "I'm no good with this strategic nonsense!" Everyone laughed, and he grinned good-naturedly. Sirius examined the board quickly.

"Ah, Pete, I'm sorry," he murmured, and everyone looked up at him. "He's got you in checkmate in six moves, mate."

"You take that back, you yellow bellied coward!" shouted one of Peter's remaining pawns.

"Excellent," Peter said brightly, ignoring his pieces as they shouted encouragements at him. "The pressure was getting to me. I'm going to bed." They all waved to him as they then settled down in chairs around the table.

"So, have you made up your mind about who's getting a spot on the team?" Hermione asked.

"I think I've got it narrowed down to the ones I want," James told her in a yawn. "Ellen Shupere and Adam Freeman for Chaser. They're friends, and both sixth years. I was thinking of going with fifth year Isaac Fass for Beater." He gave a sidelong glance at Sirius, who looked uncomfortable. "If that's alright with you."

"James, listen, about earlier…" Sirius began, but he was interrupted.

"Don't worry about it, mate," James muttered, waving him off. "Everyone's got bad days. Except me, of course. I'm perfect." He was then promptly hit squarely in the face with a pillow, and Lily smirked smugly.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX****YZ**

Monday morning found the N.E.W.T. students in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hermione was sitting with Lily, Stella, and Alice, chatting about their plans to visit the library during the lunch hour, when Sirius tapped her on the shoulder. Hermione turned to see him standing behind her with a pretty seventh year Ravenclaw girl.

"Hermione, I thought you ought to meet my girlfriend, Erica Lange," he explained. Hermione stood, shaking hands with Erica. "Erica, this is Hermione Granger. She's new here this year in Gryffindor." Erica smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said in a sweet voice. "You were brilliant in Slughorn's class last week, by the way. I've never seen him so lost for words." Hermione laughed.

"Thanks," she replied. "It's nice to meet you, too." Professor Hostetler swept into the room then, beginning the lesson.

An hour and a half later, Hermione waved her friends off to the library as she headed to the girls' room.

"I'll meet you there in a bit," she told them. "I just want to wash my hands off before Madame Pince attacks me with her bare hands for bringing filth to her precious books." She opened the door to hear a barrage of giggles.

"So who's the new girl?" asked a high voice. "The one Sirius introduced you to."

"Hermione something," Erica replied, and Hermione stopped dead, her hand on the door. "I dunno, it doesn't really matter."

"She's not exactly pretty, is she?" noted another voice, and Hermione frowned.

"Not at all," Erica replied. "I was worried that someone so smart would catch his attention, or something, but she's really not a threat at all. Too damn ugly for that. Anyway, did you see her hair?"

"Merlin, you'd think she'd find a taming charm or something," someone muttered. "It's horrendous." Hermione slowly backed away from the bathroom, slowly and carefully closing the door. She walked to the library mechanically, almost too hurt to realize what she was doing.

"Hey, Hermione," whispered Stella as she sat down with them at a table against the wall.

"Are you alright?" asked Lily, watching Hermione closely. Hermione forced a pleasant smile, pulling out her books.

"Absolutely fine," she replied quietly. There was no way she was going to admit to her friends that she was shallow enough to be hurt by the things Erica and her friends had said about her. Hermione was too smart to be brought down by such comments…wasn't she?

"Oh, I almost forgot," murmured Lily. "McGonagall told me there's going to be a Hogsmeade weekend in a couple of weeks. We should check Honeyduke's for those Sugar Quills Alice was mentioning. It's her birthday next month." Hermione nodded, forcing herself to concentrate on her friends and her books.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_Oh, Madame Granger, that's awful!" Magenta murmured, her quill halted in midair. "Why on earth would those girls say something so hateful?" Hermione shrugged and gave a wry little smile._

"_You yourself weren't a teenager too long ago," she answered. "You probably remember that teenage girls are prone to gossip as such, and it's really not too surprising that as the new girl, I was the subject of a lot of talk. And let's face it - my hair's really not exactly setting the world on fire, is it?" Magenta laughed, beginning to write again._

"_So you and Sirius Black became friends," she noted, scribbling away. "That must have been nice."_

"_It _was_ nice to finally clear the air and get things settled between the two of us," Hermione agreed. "I should tell you, however, that that wasn't the last fight th__at Sirius and I ever had. Our temporary truces were nearly as legendary as our tremendous rows."_

"_Tell me more!" Magenta begged, and Hermione laughed._

"_All in good time," she replied. "I promise."_


	6. Chapter Six

**Happy April! Sorry it's been such a long time since I uploaded a chapter…You know the drill – school takes over my life, work takes over my life, relearning how to breathe takes over my life…**

**14 April 2011**

**PS – If you haven't seen 'A Very Potter Musical,' your life isn't yet complete. Check it out on YouTube, 'cause it's awesome.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I'm not gaining anything other than personal gratification from the writing of this story. I wish someone would pay me to do this, but alas, the world doesn't work in such magical ways.**

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The next several weeks passed fairly quickly and monotonously for Hermione. She went to class, ate meals in the Great Hall, studied in the library with her friends, finished assignments days in advance, and slept. Her friends began to notice subtle changes in her, even though they'd only known her for a month. She was becoming withdrawn and morose, speaking only when spoken to, and accepting social invitations only when she had no contrary excuses available.

Lily and Stella quickly grew worried, and one evening, while Hermione was fetching another book from the library to continue her research for her Charms assignment, they mentioned their concern to the Marauders.

"She's not the same as she was when we first met her," Lily said in a hushed voice in the corner of the common room. "It's like someone flipped a switch, and suddenly she's less herself."

"I mean, she was secretive before, but it's harder now to get anything from her than at the beginning of term," Stella added. Remus nodded.

"Something's definitely wrong," he agreed, then pausing. "D'you think she might be homesick?"

"It's possible," James replied. "I mean, everyone gets homesick their first term away from home. The first year's definitely the hardest. She's been at home for years, and it can't be easy doing that at seventeen."

"I just wish there was something we could do," Stella said. "I mean, the Christmas holiday's a long way off, and there's no way the professors would let even stellar Hermione Granger take time off to visit home in the middle of N.E.W.T. prep."

"There _is_ something we can do," Sirius interjected, a mischievous glint in his eye. Just then, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and Hermione climbed into the common room carrying a heavy leather bound volume. When she joined them at the table, she noticed that they were all watching her.

"What? Have I got something on my face?"

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Hermione and Sirius walked together from Transfiguration the next morning to the Great Hall, having been called aside by McGonagall to commend them for their excellent joint essay.

"When's the first Quidditch match?" she asked, shifting her heavy books around in her arms. Sirius took them from her easily, pushing his bag to his other shoulder.

"Next Saturday," he replied, ignoring her protests to give her the books back. "I hear Ravenclaw's pretty good this year, though, so it'll be a tight match."

"Uh oh," Hermione said with feigned worry. "Does Erica care that Ravenclaw's going to lose quite terribly next week?" Sirius snorted.

"Erica probably couldn't care any less than she already does about Quidditch," he told her. "When we played them last year, she slept through the match because she didn't even know it was happening." Hermione laughed.

"Sounds like my kind of Quidditch fan," she teased him. "Sleep is definitely a better way to spend a Saturday morning than watching some bigheaded men on broomsticks fly around and put balls through hoops. Like Muggle basketball, only infinitely more pointless." Sirius glared sternly at her.

"What's basketball? Never mind, I don't want to know. But I'd better see you in the stands next weekend," he told her firmly. "No excuses. You're a Gryffindor now, and Gryffindors support their team, regardless of disinterest." Hermione rolled her eyes fondly.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered as they walked into the Great Hall. "I'll be there. You Beaters are a bit testy in the mornings, aren't you?"

"It's how we do so well hitting Bludgers at other people," he told her matter-of-factly. "If we're testy, it hits the other guy twice as hard." Hermione laughed again. He waved at her as he went to go sit with Erica at the Ravenclaw table.

Hermione sat down at the Gryffindor table next Lily and across from Stella.

"I know that Hufflepuffs are supposed to be the nice, friendly, easygoing ones, but honestly, does Bryce Brewer really have to suck up to every single teacher?" Stella asked in a dry voice. "I mean, you can only compliment McGonagall on her glasses so many times, before it becomes, you know, old." The girls laughed.

"He wouldn't really be Bryce, though, if he didn't kiss ass every chance he gets," Lily replied. "I find it's best to ignore everything that comes out of his mouth. Maybe I've just grown immune to him over the last six years."

"Or it's a defense mechanism," Stella pointed out.

"Do you guys want to head to the library after class to finish Vector's assignment?" Hermione asked when they were through bashing the idiotic Bryce Brewer. Lily and Stella looked at each other.

"Go on ahead without us," Lily said. "James and Sirius need help reversing some charm they decided to put on the window in their room. Something about the pane insulting them as they walk by. I thought only mirrors did that, but it seems those idiots found another way to impossibly screw up the mundane."

"And I'm helping Alice and Frank with the Herbology assignment," Stella told her. "They're both hopelessly lost in that class." Hermione stifled a giggle as she ladled herself a bowl of soup. It was pure irony that Neville was the best in the year at Herbology, but his parents didn't know Devil's Snare from a garden of rhododendron.

"I guess I'll see you later tonight, then," Hermione said, her laughter growing even more difficult to control as her friends looked questioningly at her. "I definitely don't want to get caught with the assignment this weekend. Merlin knows there's already so much to do."

"It's insane how much work they're giving us," agreed Stella dryly, tossing aside her sandwich, her appetite lost. "I wonder if they realize that no matter how much homework they give, we're still not going to have to know most of this nonsense in the jobs we have later."

"You never know," Lily sang. "Knowing the forty-four uses of trowbuckle venom might come in handy someday." Stella rolled her eyes.

"If the knowledge of the forty-four uses of trowbuckle venom is EVER handy, please kill me."

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Later that night, Hermione trudged back up to the common room with her heavy bag slung across her back. Though it had taken hours longer than she'd expected, Professor Vector's torturous assignment was done and she could sleep easy that night.

"SURPRISE!" was the greeting Hermione found herself facing as she climbed through the portrait hole. Her bag fell from her shoulder and she stared around in shock. Lily, Stella, Alice, Frank, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and James were standing together in the common room, beaming at her while she stood there, dumbfounded.

"What's going on?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing her grinning friends. James turned to Sirius.

"You know, you'd think someone so brilliant would recognize a surprise party when it was shouting in her face," he noted, and Sirius nodded.

"I think we're going to have to start teaching her how to identify the tell-tale signs of fun when it crosses her path," he replied, and Hermione poked him jokingly in the ribs as she joined her friends near the fire.

"You planned me a surprise party?" she asked, and her friends smiled around at her again.

"Of course," Lily said fondly. "You've not really been yourself lately, so we thought maybe a little party would take your mind off of homesickness." Hermione's chest tightened and she had to fight to keep the sadness off of her face. How could she ever tell her friends that it wasn't homesickness that was holding her back, but a shallow lack of confidence and self esteem? She couldn't tell her friends – she felt stupid just thinking about it.

"Thanks," was what she said instead, and Stella handed her a bottle of butterbeer. "What happened to everyone else? It's usually packed down here this time of night."

"We may have given them strong incentive to stay away for the night," Remus replied casually, and Hermione eyed him suspiciously.

"You don't want to know," Alice informed her with a grim sort of shudder. "Trust me."

"Let the festivities begin!" James cried.

Some hours later, the nine seventh year Gryffindors sat lazily in overstuffed armchairs by the fire, talking idly.

"What do you miss most about home?" Lily asked. Hermione screwed up her face in concentration as she considered this.

"My friends, probably," she replied slowly. "I mean, I went from seeing them nearly every day to not seeing them at all. They were my whole world."

"You really miss them," noted Peter blandly.

"It's hard, not being with them. Those two were the ones who taught me that life becomes fun when you let things out of control once in a while. Without them, I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly what I am today." She paused. "Harry and Ron and I didn't always get along, but when we did, there was nothing that could stop us from doing exactly what we wanted to do."

"What about your parents?" asked James. "What made you decide to come here instead of staying home and getting tutored?"

"The day I learned I was a witch was the day I began disappointing my parents," she told him. "I'm Muggleborn, so the last thing they were expecting of me was to become a witch."

"You still love them," Sirius pointed out. It wasn't a question, but an observation. Hermione nodded.

"I was never left wanting for food or books or shelter. They've been excellent parents in providing me the basics. They wanted me to go to Muggle university and study to become something great in the Muggle world. Preferably a dentist, if they'd had their way. They had their hopes high for me, and they had even higher expectations. Once I entered the wizarding world, their hopes for a prim, proper, and normally educated daughter flew out the window and got lost in the Forbidden Forest.

"I do love them, and I miss them more than I can probably say, but I'm afraid it's a one way street. They stopped wanting to see me a long time ago, so I suppose I'm really on my own now."

"Not true," Stella told her firmly. "You've got us. As long as that's true, you're not alone."

"Don't ever forget that," Lily added. "We love you, Hermione, and we want you to be here with us." Hermione smiled, and her heart swelled a little as the others agreed.

"Thanks, guys," she said sincerely. "For everything." Sirius yawned and stretched.

"I think it's time to hit the sack," he murmured. "Erica wants me to help her with the Charms assignment tomorrow before breakfast. Whoever taught the Sorting Hat about the houses forgot to mention that Ravenclaws are particularly susceptible to bouts of serious procrastination." Hermione stiffened, but played it off as a stretch. This did not go unnoticed by Sirius, who frowned as Hermione, too, stood.

"Right," she said, clearing her throat. "It's been a long day." She headed up the stairs to the girls' dormitory, but Sirius watched her go.

As soon as Hermione reached the safety of the room she shared with the other three Gryffindor seventh year girls, she sighed and fell into her bed almost immediately. As much as she liked her new friends, this new reality was beginning to scare her. She'd never been easily scared, so it worried her that she was so frankly anxious about her situation. It'd been nearly a month, and Dumbledore continued to tell her that there was no new news on the subject of returning home.

It had been nearly a month, but Hermione wasn't ready to give up hope of returning to her correct reality. It was time she did some serious research on her own.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Sirius lay awake for several hours late that night, contemplating Hermione's odd reaction to his girlfriend's name. Did the two girls have a falling out? He shook his head, muttering to himself. Stupid, he thought. He wasn't even sure that Hermione and Erica had ever spoken beyond his initial introduction, so that didn't make much sense.

He muttered to himself again, flopping over onto his stomach.

"Padfoot, if you don't shut up, I'm going to make sure that you never feel comfortable taking a piss ever again," he heard James grunt angrily from the bed to his right. He snorted, albeit quietly, and rolled over again, falling asleep.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_How do you know this?" Magenta interrupted, setting her quill aside for a moment. "I mean, to know what's going on in the boys' dormitories would be fantastic, but how in Merlin's beard are you so clairvoyant?" Hermione laughed outright at that, nearly spilling her drink._

"_It would be __excellent to be omnipotent," she agreed. "But since I'm not, I got that particular information from a friend who _was_ there that night."_

"_Oh," the journalist murmured in surprise. "I was expecting it to be something a little more…"_

"_Exciting?" Hermione finished for her, smiling faintly. "Sorry, but life is boring and predictable sometimes."_

"_Well, continue on, then!" the young woman urged her, picking up her quill again._

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

The next morning, Sirius woke early from a fitful sleep. Hermione's odd departure the previous night was still bothering him, and he meant to get to the bottom of it, even if he had to sacrifice prime pranking time to do so.

"Sorry, Prongs," he told James as he fished a (maybe) clean pair of socks from beneath his bed. "You're going to have to hit the Slytherin common room without me this morning. I've got stuff to do." James rolled his eyes as he spit toothpaste into the sink.

"Puh-lease," he muttered, shooting Sirius a dirty look. "You've got to stop ditching us to go and make out with your girlfriend." Sirius threw one of his textbooks at him.

"That's not it this time, mate," he replied easily, ducking as James responded in kind by throwing a tube of toothpaste at him. "Honestly, can't a man have some secrets anymore?"

"Sure, men can have secrets," James told him. "As soon as you become a man, go ahead and keep your secrets." Instead of tackling his best friend as he normally would, Sirius left the dormitory, rolling his eyes as James flopped around on his bed, laughing hysterically at his own joke.

Down in a second floor corridor, Sirius nearly collided with Rose Santiago, a seventh year Hufflepuff girl whom he knew to be friends with Erica.

"Sorry, sorry!" she exclaimed. "I really have _got_ to stop reading and walking at the same time. This is getting ridiculous!" Sirius laughed.

"It's no problem, really," he told her, putting her at ease. "Anyway, have you seen Erica or Hermione this morning perchance?" Rose's face clouded over momentarily as she snapped her book shut.

"Not this morning, no," she replied. "Sorry." When she tried to move past him, he put a hand on her arm.

"What's up, Rose? Do you know something about why Hermione's been acting off lately?" She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

"Yes," she said finally, looking up at him with a tense face. "I was there when it happened, and I've been feeling guilty beyond reasonable parameters for weeks."

"What happened?" Sirius demanded.

"Erica and those other girls from Ravenclaw were talking about Hermione in the girl's loo on the third floor a few weeks ago, and she walked in while they were saying some nasty things about her." Sirius frowned.

"What did they say?" he asked in a low voice. When she remained silent, he said again, "What did they say, Rose?"

"They talked about how Hermione looks," she replied. "They think she's ugly, or something. Erica said she wasn't worried that Hermione'd steal you since she's not pretty, even though she's really smart." Sirius dropped his hand from her arm, stunned. "Hermione walked in while they were talking, but as soon as she heard they were talking about her, she left."

"Erica said all that?" he asked, and Rose nodded.

"I was afraid to tell you or Hermione 'cause Erica's been a decent friend to me," she explained quickly, trying to regain his attention as he looked away absently. "Please, Sirius, tell me you understand. I'm a bookworm, and you know that everyone looks down on me since I'm a Hufflepuff. I don't have many friends, and I don't want to lose the ones that I have." Sirius looked back down at her.

"I know," he told her wearily. "I get it. They're your friends, and you'd do anything for them. I'm the same way." Rose's face relaxed with relief.

"I'm really sorry," she told him. "I should have said something. I like Hermione – she's hands down the smartest girl I've ever known, even though Lily Evans could give her a run for her money." Sirius smiled vacantly, and the two parted.

Troubled and angry, Sirius wandered absently down the hall, not really paying attention to where he was going. When he found himself in the Great Hall half an hour later, he saw his friends sitting at the Gryffindor table. He looked over to the Ravenclaw table, and saw Erica waving to him from where she sat with her friends. He shook his head silently and joined his friends at his own house's table without giving his girlfriend another glance.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"What's with you today, Padfoot?" Peter asked as they sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch that afternoon.

"I'm fine," he replied tersely, pulling apart his sandwich, piece by piece. "Everything's brilliant." Remus, James, and Peter exchanged glances. "Whatever, I'm going to get some air." He pushed away from the table and left the Great Hall quickly.

"Should we go with him?" asked James, and Remus paused.

"We really should," he sighed. "Let's go."

When they found Sirius out on the grounds, they saw that Erica had followed him, too. It didn't look as though they were having a pleasant conversation, so the three Marauders kept a safe distance away, not drawing attention to themselves.

"What did I do, Sirius?" Erica was asking plaintively.

"Hermione is my friend, Erica," he told her angrily. "She's brilliant, she's funny, and she's been nothing but pleasant to you." Erica put a hand on his arm.

"I know that, babe," she said.

"Then why did you say that stuff about Hermione in the girl's toilet after I introduced you two?" he asked. "I know you like to gossip with those Ravenclaw twits you hang out with, but honestly, why would you say terrible things about her?" Erica looked confused for a moment, but then comprehension dawned on her face.

"Who told you about that?" she asked shrewdly.

"It doesn't matter!" Sirius cried. "The point is, Hermione heard you! She doesn't deserve that from anyone, because she's not ugly." Erica sighed.

"I'm sorry this is upsetting you," she said soothingly. "I didn't mean for that to reach ears outside of that bathroom, and I didn't know Hermione Granger heard us talking. I'm sorry." Sirius sighed and nodded.

"Just…be nice to her, will you?" he requested. "She's new, and all, and she's really great. You should get to know her."

James, Remus, and Peter slipped away silently, heading back into the castle. When they were back in the safety of the corridors, they stopped.

"I didn't know Erica had such a nasty side," Remus murmured.

"D'you think he'll ditch her?" Peter asked.

"Probably," James replied. "He's been with her for nearly a year, so it's overdue for him to break it off, anyway."

"I hope Hermione's okay," Peter muttered. "She's too nice to get caught up in that."

"We'll see to it that she feels better," James agreed confidently. "Let's take her to Hogsmeade and show her all the good stuff. You know the girls won't show her the Hog's Head or the Shrieking Shack."

"Ooooh let's do it," Peter said, and Remus nodded his approval. "Hey, what time is it? Are we late for class?" The boys all looked down at their watches as Peeves floated overhead, cackling merrily.

"DEARIE MCGONAGALL! ICKLE STUDEN- " It was then that Peeves choked on his own words as his own shoes flew off and began beating him around the head. He zoomed away, cursing at the top of his lungs. The three boys watched him as he went.

"Nice one, James."

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"She said _what_ about Hermione?" Lily hissed, her face flushing angrily.

"Cool it, Lils," Remus said. "Don't want Hermione to know we've heard about it."

"Oh, Erica's just asking for it," muttered Stella, pushing her hair out of her face. "This is absolutely ridiculous. Hermione's a pretty girl, and she doesn't deserve that from Erica Lange, of all people."

"Why didn't she tell us?" Lily wondered.

"Would you?" James asked. "I mean, she's super smart, so it's not like she'd want to make a big deal out of something she considers unimportant and shallow." Everyone stared at him in silence for a moment. "What?"

"When did you get so insightful?" Remus wondered in awe. James shrugged, stretching lazily.

"I've always been a genius," he boasted theatrically. "OW!" Stella put on an innocent face as she tucked her wand back in her robes.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

The weekend at Hogsmeade was exactly what Hermione needed to feel better with her friends. Lily, Stella, James, Peter, Sirius, and Remus spent the day showing her the village. She pretended to never have been there before, even though some of her favorite memories at Hogwarts took place in Hogsmeade with Harry and Ron.

Hunting for rare volumes in the book shop, choosing outrageous sweets from Honeydukes, and drinking butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks had Hermione smiling the whole day through, glad that she'd found people knew and liked in this time.

She knew later in the day that they'd somehow heard about what had happened with Erica in the bathroom all those weeks ago, and she was embarrassed at first. Gradually, she recognized that her friends didn't hold with such nonsense, and that she was free to not be ashamed anymore.

Hermione seemed to return to normal, and her friends were glad to see her become herself again.

Neither James, Remus, Peter, Lily, nor Stella were very happy with Sirius, however, for remaining with Erica throughout the resolution of the situation. When they asked him about it, he merely said, "We've been together for a year, so I'm not going to just throw that all away because she was her gossipy self. Besides, she apologized to Hermione. Now, leave me alone. I want to perfect the Bat Bogey Hex for the next time Nott tries to put a permanent sticking charm on Petey's back."

The next weekend, the air was electric with excitement – the first Quidditch match of the season was upon them, and even the chilly mid-October weather couldn't bring spirits down. Early on Saturday, students filed down to the pitch in droves to sit in the stands high above the grass.

Hermione, Lily, Stella, Peter, Remus, Alice, Frank, and Rose Santiago walked down after breakfast, getting seats together on the Gryffindor side of the pitch.

"Ooooh I hope this doesn't last long," Alice remarked, shivering as they waited for Madam Hooch and the teams to enter the field. "It's freezing out here." Frank put his arm around her.

"You never know," Remus commented. "I hear both teams are good this year. We could end up out here for hours." Lily and Stella groaned, and Hermione pinched his shoulder.

"Why would you say that?" she asked as he rubbed the sore spot. "If we actually _are_ here for hours, I'm going to blame you." Remus grimaced.

"I take it back!" he declared. "We'll be here ten minutes. Fifteen at the most."

"Much better," Rose sighed. "I like Quidditch, but there's no way I'm going to stay in this weather for longer than that." At that moment, Madam Hooch strode out to the center of the field, holding her broom in one hand and a silver whistle in the other. After her followed the Ravenclaw team, looking sharp in blue and black robes.

Next came the Gryffindor team, and all Gryffindor students stood and cheered wildly. James, Sirius, Isaac, Heidi, Ellen, Adam, and Benjamin shook hands with the Ravenclaws and mounted their brooms. Off they went as Madam Hooch gave a short, shrill burst on her whistle.

James immediately shot straight up in the air, and began circling the pitch, watching the goings on below. Ravenclaw had the Quaffle, Gryffindor had the Quaffle, Gryffindor scored, Ravenclaw scored. The game moved quickly, and the score on both ends of the match increased rapidly. Sirius and Isaac worked in tandem, hindering the Ravenclaw Chasers' ability to score easily. The Snitch made one brief appearance and was gone again before either Seeker could make a move.

Three hours and fourteen minutes later, the Snitch showed itself once more. James raced toward it, and was nearly knocked from his broom in an illegal, unfair block by a Chaser from the Ravenclaw team.

"James!" gasped Lily, putting a hand over her mouth. Hermione stood with her, watching as James struggled with his gloves and the broom, hanging onto the handle with great difficulty.

The crowd roared in rage, screaming at the sixth-year boy. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, streaking toward the Chaser as Sirius and Adam caught James as his hands slipped off the end of his broom. They set him right, and he put his glasses back on straight. He shooed them away as they hovered next to him, his game face on once again.

Hermione was hit by a sudden wave of grief and longing as she was reminded of Harry by his father. Their demeanor on the pitch was nearly identical – it was no wonder that James's son would become a mirror image of his father.

After a quick penalty scored by Heidi, the game resumed its normal pace, but the Snitch was gone once again. Hermione and Lily sat down again, Lily blushing as Stella poked her in the back.

"I was worried I might have to pull Head duties on my own," Lily sniffed, returning her attention to the game as Stella and Hermione exchanged glances. "Nothing more than that."

Seven minutes later, James streaked directly toward the Chaser who'd fouled him, and the crowd gasped as he pulled away at the last second, the Snitch wedged firmly in his grasp.

The Gryffindors went wild, and they flooded the field to carry their team on their shoulders.

"We'll meet you in the common room!" Remus shouted to Sirius, who nodded as he was swept away to the locker room by adoring Gryffindor fans.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

In the common room, a fifth year boy by the name of Oswald had set up a party of epic proportions after sneaking food up from the kitchens. Oswald reminded Hermione strongly of a Fred-George-Lee Jordan mixture, and she heard from others that he could give the Marauders a run for their money in a couple of years' time.

The seven members of the team came up half an hour later after having showered and dressed, and were greeted with uproarious cheers and chants.

'The after-Quidditch partying doesn't change much in thirty years,' Hermione thought wryly as she watched two fourth years hang a second year student upside down as he blew a giant bubble with Drooble's gum.

"How'd we do?" James asked as he and Sirius made their way to Stella, Hermione, and Lily where they sat with Remus and Peter at a table near the window.

"You know you did brilliantly," Lily scolded him, but he grinned at her, flopping down in the chair beside her. "Don't go fishing for compliments. It's not polite." He smiled widely at her again, pushing his hair out of his face and leaning back in his chair.

"You nearly got yourself killed out there," Stella remarked. "That fall was at least a hundred feet to the ground." James shrugged as he swigged his butterbeer.

"But I _didn't_ hit the ground," he reminded her. "And that's all that counts."

"Did anyone happen to see Erica at the match?" Sirius asked, and everyone shook their heads.

"Sorry, mate," Peter said. "Weren't you going to meet up with her after the match was over?" Sirius nodded.

"She didn't show up," he reported. "It's really odd she'd forget that."

"You never know," sighed Hermione tiredly. "She probably has a reason for skiving off your date. Did you check the library?" He raised an eyebrow at her, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, excuse me for suggesting that you might _actually_ set foot in the library, of all places, to search for your studious Ravenclaw girlfriend." Their friends laughed.

"Hey!" Sirius cried indignantly. "I can't help that I'm allergic to books!"

"Don't blame the books for your aversion to actually using your brain and stepping into a library," Remus muttered, and there was a roar of laughter all around.

"Hey, I saved the captain's life today!" he protested. "If it weren't for me, Filch would be scraping James from the grass on the pitch. It's all thanks to _me_ he's not a pancake right no-" Hermione shoved a chocolate frog in his mouth, stemming the flow of words.

"Thank you, Hermione," James said, bowing to her as Sirius choked. "I've been trying to think of a tactful way of doing that for years."

"Glad to be of service," she said happily as Sirius glared at her. "Oh, Sirius, don't give me that look. _Someone_ had to let a little air out of that overinflated ego. Anyway, I'm going to head to the library. All this celebrating is giving me a headache."

"D'you want some company?" asked Stella as Hermione stood with her bookbag.

"No, that's alright," Hermione replied. "Thanks, though. Don't wait up for me tonight – I might not be back for a while."

The library was quiet and nearly empty, save for the few students serving detention by dusting the shelves and oiling the covers of the oldest volumes, so Hermione sat at her favorite table and started in on the essay on the transfiguration of metallic elements McGonagall had assigned during class the day before.

Hermione was pulling a book off the shelf in the Transfiguration section when she heard someone behind her. She turned to see Severus Snape looking at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Can I help you?" she asked coolly.

"That book," he responded. "I need it."

"Are you working on the metallic essay?" she asked, and he nodded.

"What else would I be doing, exactly, with a Transfiguration book on the metallic elements?" he wondered sarcastically, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I was just making polite conversation," she told him disdainfully. "There's no reason to scowl like that." Snape gave her a scornful look before pulling in a deep breath.

"I need that book to finish my essay," Snape began again. "Could I please borrow it?" His face was pinched and his voice was strained, almost as though being courteous was causing him physical pain. Hermione nearly laughed.

"We could share it," she offered, knowing she would regret it. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

"You're a Gryffindor," Snape pointed out. "And I'm a Slytherin. What makes you think that would work?"

"Because we're both human," Hermione said dryly. "I think we could share so long as you can stand being in the same room with me." 'And so long as I forget that you will kill Albus Dumbledore someday,' she thought to herself, shuddering inwardly. "What do you say?"

"I suppose that would work," he said loftily, and he followed Hermione to the table at which she'd been studying. "No, not here!" he hissed as she began to sit.

"Why not?" she demanded, confused. Snape gestured toward the doors of the library.

"Someone might see us," he continued in a low voice. "We have to move somewhere else." Hermione gave him a reproachful look, but rolled her eyes and packed up her belongings.

"Lead the way, Secret Agent Man," she muttered, and he ignored her, finding a table in the furthest corner of the library, behind stacks of books Hermione was sure hadn't seen daylight in centuries.

"There," he said, deeming the spot appropriate. "Perfect."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to Iceland, or something?" Hermione asked. "I hear the weather is lovely this time of year. Plus, it's far, far away from prying Hogwarts eyes." Snape ignored her again, setting out his materials. Hermione sighed and did the same, opening the book between them and diving back into the assignment.

An hour later, both Hermione and Snape set aside their quills, having accomplished a fine rough draft of the essay each. As she was rolling her parchment, Hermione commented, "I think Lily wanted to use this book, too, so I'll bring it back to the Gryffindor common room." Snape froze in his movements, an empty ink bottle in midair.

"Do not mention Evans to me," he growled, thrusting his belongings back into his bag angrily. Hermione was taken aback and was at a loss for words.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked curiously. "We were almost getting along tonight. What gives?" Snape lifted his bag to his shoulder and sneered down his nose at her.

"Nothing's the matter with me," he told her frostily. "Leave it alone, Granger." Without another word, he strode from the library. He slammed the double doors behind him, and Hermione could hear Madam Pince muttering unhappily about it.

What had set Snape off? Hermione was already not too fond of Severus Snape, but she was going to get to the bottom of it, whether he liked it or not.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_You got along with Snape?" Magenta asked incredulously, awe in her eyes. "I've heard that he was difficult through his whole life."_

"_Severus Snape was definitely difficult, for a lack of a better word," Hermione agreed. "That night, we happened upon the same book, and for us to be able to sit in the same room, at the same table, was what one might call monumental." She paused. "And believe me, I wasn't looking forward to a similar encounter in the future."_

"_And what was that odd reaction about?" the young journalist wondered. "I thought everyone loved Lily Evans when she was in school."_

"_I'm getting to that part soon," Hermione promised._


	7. Chapter Seven

**Alright, here's chapter seven. Two chapters so close together! Gasp! It's almost like magic!**

**17 April 2011**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money off the writing of this story. Bummer for me.**

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_The mystery of Severus Snape and Lily Evans consumed me silently for a while. When I wasn't doing schoolwork, I was thinking about what could possibly have caused such a reaction from Snape. My immediate thought was that the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry had become entirely academic between the two, since they had __always __been the top two in their year during school. Lily and Snape were both __brilliant__ and their studious habits gave them both top marks. I'm not quite sure when it happened, but at some point, I realized that it just _wasn't_ an academic rivalry."_

_Magenta Reed rubbed her tired hands together before pulling out another incredibly long sheaf of parchment. "What made you realize that?"_

"_About two weeks after Snape blew me off in the library that night, I mentioned it to Lily and Stella when we were getting ready for bed. Lily became sort of stiff and wouldn't make eye contact, brushing off the question without giving a reason. Stella told me when Lily was brushing her teeth that she and Severus Snape had had an argument following fifth year O.W.L. examinations."_

"_Did Miss Craven tell you why?" Magenta asked._

"_She wouldn't," Hermione replied, sipping carefully at her drink. "Stella said it was something Lily'd have to explain to me herself, so I dropped it. It wasn't for a while till I found out what was really bothering Lily about Snape."_

_Magenta cleared her throat, eyeing Hermione shrewdly._

"_So I suppose you won't tell me about it yet, either?" Hermione laughed, tossing back her head._

"_You're right in one," she said, still chuckling. "Don't worry, it'll come up soon enough. Promise."_

"_Alright, well, what happened next with Sirius Black?" Magenta countered. "Did he and his girlfriend stay together after all that happened between you and her?"_

"_Let me tell you about that now."_

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Two weeks had passed since the first Quidditch game of the season, and heading into November, the weather got colder and the workloads of the seventh year students were growing ever steadily. Hermione had come to forcing Sirius to take his classes seriously and study, acclimating him to the idea of preparing for the big N.E.W.T. examinations in (gasp!) the library, of all places! Once he got over his initial aversion to spending any length of time in the same room as the weedy and shrewd Madam Pince, Hermione was starting to notice that he almost enjoyed the vast resources the library provided.

"Merlin, this is brilliant!" he whispered one night, keeping his voice low so as to keep at bay the tantrums Madam Pince was prone to throwing when he touched the books. "I can't believe I've been avoiding this place my whole life. My essays would be a lot more interesting if I actually used something other than the textbook and Remus's brain to write." Hermione shook her head, pulling out a brand new inkwell.

"Oh, don't just try to placate me into letting you out of here early tonight," she muttered. "We have to finish the Charms work before we go back to the common room. Otherwise, you'll never do it."

"Yes, mother," Sirius intoned, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, d'you mind if Erica joins us tomorrow night? With all this studying I'm doing now, I hardly get to see her. I figure if we were both here studying, we'll be able to spend more time together." Hermione's chest tightened.

"Sure," she replied quickly. Sirius looked at her strangely, so she added, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather just study alone with her? I mean, it'll probably be awkward to be the third wheel on a, erm, study date."

"Nonsense," Sirius reassured her. "If it's just the two of us, we'll never get any studying done, if you know what I mean." He went back to the book he was paging through, and Hermione bit at her thumbnail.

Truth be told, Hermione didn't want to spend any time with Erica Lange. No matter how shallow it really was, she was still hurt by what Erica'd said about her in the bathroom all those weeks ago. She and Erica had been carefully avoiding each other since Sirius's confrontation. Whenever they ran into each other, the two girls were distantly polite, each leaving as soon as humanly possible. Sirius noticed this and tried to remedy the situation by forcing them to spend time around each other and become friends.

Both Hermione and Erica had put an end to this effort, going back to the careful avoidance policy they'd adopted early on.

It wasn't only Erica that caused Hermione's hesitation, but Sirius as well. He'd continued seeing Erica, even after hearing that she'd treated Hermione badly, not skipping a beat in their relationship. Sirius and Hermione were growing closer by the minute as friends, and he was the one who knew her best of all her new friends, but she was still hurt by his willingness to stand by Erica.

"I don't mind," she told him finally, and he grunted his acquiescence, peering down at the book in front of him. Hermione sighed and returned to her own homework.

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"Hermione Granger!" someone called after her as she was leaving dinner the next night. She turned to see a young Hufflepuff student running as fast as his tiny legs would carry him. "Miss Granger!" Hermione stopped and waited for him to catch up. When he finally did, he bent over his knees, catching his breath.

"Sorry," he wheezed, waving a scroll of rolled parchment sealed with wax. "You walk so fast!" Hermione smiled encouragingly and took the scroll from him. "It's from Dumbledore. Said I was to deliver it to you as soon as possible." The boy grimaced. "I wonder if he'll be mad at me for taking so long." Hermione shook her head as she broke the seal.

"Dumbledore doesn't get mad at students," she reassured him. "You'll be just fine. Thank you." With that, the boy scampered away back toward the Great Hall.

Unrolling the parchment, Hermione recognized Dumbledore's flowing calligraphy script.

_**Miss Granger,**_

_**At your soonest convenience, please join me in my office. Your presence is required this evening.**_

_**Most sincerely,**_

_**A. Dumbledore**_

_**P.S. I find myself craving Peppermint Imps.**__** Does this curious phenomena ever happen to you?**_

Hermione stowed the parchment in her bag and headed in the opposite direction toward Dumbledore's office. She spoke the password to the gargoyles standing guard outside the entrance, and climbed the spiral staircase up to the Headmaster's office.

"Come in," called a soft voice from within the office, before Hermione had even knocked on the door. She pushed open the heavy oak door and closed it behind her.

Sitting behind the wide desk in the center of the room was Dumbledore, appearing to have been waiting for Hermione to arrive. When he motioned for her to sit, she took the comfortable arm chair situated directly in front of the Headmaster's desk and set her bag on the ground.

"I got your note," she began uncertainly. Harry had been the one with the close relationship to Dumbledore, and Hermione had only spoken personally to him on few occasions. He was making her nervous as he gazed down his crooked nose at her.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Granger," he replied serenely. "I'm going to skip the pleasantries, if you don't mind. I realize that there is etiquette to beginning conversation with another person, but you've been waiting for nearly three months for me to speak with you." Hermione sat up straighter and cleared her throat. "I wanted to convey to you an update in my research on your peculiar time-travelling issue."

"Have you found anything, sir?" Hermione asked quickly.

Dumbledore watched her sadly for a moment. "I'm afraid I haven't been able to resolve your problem, my dear. Your particular case, I have found through extensive research, is unique. One of a kind. I've met with experts and corresponded with them as they did their own research, and I'm sorry to say that our endeavors have come up empty." Hermione's shoulders sagged as she looked down at her lap.

"Are you alright, Miss Granger?"

"I suppose I was just excited to maybe go home," she told him. "It's feels like it's been a long time."

"Are you unhappy here?" he asked, and Hermione hesitated, thinking it over thoroughly.

"Not unhappy, sir," she responded slowly. "I just don't feel I belong. I mean, these people are my predecessors, not my contemporaries."

"You seem to be fitting in well with your fellow Gryffindors," Dumbledore observed, and she looked up at him carefully. Dumbledore was truly the most perceptive man she'd ever known.

"I really like them," Hermione replied. "They're what's keeping me sane here. Without them, I'd be wandering around without a clue, no doubt." Dumbledore sat back, smiling serenely.

"There's the solution to your problem," he told her. "You have friends who love you and don't want you to leave. While you're here, I suggest you make memories and make the best of your time here. Miss Evans and Miss Craven have really taken to you, as have the troublemakers known as the Marauders. Enjoy your time here, Miss Granger. You might be surprised at what you find."

Hermione frowned, but didn't question the Headmaster. She'd learned long ago that questioning Dumbledore was simply a waste of time.

He was right most of the time, anyway.

"Yes sir," she agreed. "I'll do that." She stood up with her bag and headed toward the door.

"Miss Granger?" he called after her, so she turned around to face him. "You have my word that as soon as I find anything regarding your trip home, I will send you news immediately." Hermione smiled tentatively.

"Thank you, sir," she mumbled, leaving the office. Out in the corridor, she leaned back against the wall, breathing deeply. Conversations with Dumbledore, no matter how simple, were also somehow always vexing.

Hermione looked at her watch and jumped. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late to the library to study with Sirius and Erica. As soon as she reached the double door entrance, she heard odd whispering off to the side. She looked over to see that down the hallway, Erica was standing in a sheltered little alcove with Tucker Roberts, a seventh year Ravenclaw boy.

Well, to say that they were simply standing together would be an underwhelming description. Erica was in fact pressing Tucker up against the wall, snogging him like there was no tomorrow. His hands were under her robes, and Hermione didn't want to look closely enough to know exactly what he was doing. She was about to turn away and make her exit into the library when she ran into someone standing behind her.

Hermione turned quickly to see Sirius standing there, watching Erica and Tucker with horror on his face.

"Are you going to break it off with Black soon, or what?" Tucker was saying. Erica simply kissed him harder.

"He's clueless," she muttered to him, barely loud enough for Hermione and Sirius to hear her. "He'll never figure it out, so there's really no point in ruining a perfectly good publicity relationship. He's good for my reputation. Anyway, we've been doing this for weeks. He's not going to catch us." Tucker nodded, and the two went back to sucking at each other's faces.

"I wonder just how clueless I really am," Sirius said loudly, and the two Ravenclaws jumped apart. Erica gasped, pulling her robes back around herself.

"Sirius," she coughed. "Wait, baby, I can explain." Sirius's eyes narrowed, and he stepped away as she came walking toward him. "Baby, come on! It's really not what it looks like!" Sirius snorted disgustedly.

"Really?" he asked sarcastically. "It looks like you're cheating on me. Are you _honestly _going to tell me that it's _really_ not what it looks like?" Erica's shoulders fell, and Hermione noticed that they weren't alone in the hallway. Students from the library had gathered around the door to hear the confrontation. Hermione saw Lily, James, and Remus in the group, clutching their books with their mouths wide open.

"Sirius, please," Erica begged, grabbing his arm. "Please, I can explain." Sirius yanked his arm out of her grasp, backing away from her.

"Don't touch me," he growled, turning away and storming off down the hallway. Erica began sobbing in the middle of the hall, and Hermione joined her friends near the library.

"She's been cheating on him?" James asked, and Hermione nodded confirmation. James turned to Remus. "We'd better follow him." Remus shook his head.

"Remember what happened last time we went out to comfort him? He turned us away flat. Hermione should go." Hermione looked up at him in surprise.

"You can't be serious," she told him skeptically. "I've only known him for a couple of months. There's no way he's going to open up to someone who's still the new kid." James sighed.

"You're the first _friend_ girl Sirius's ever really had, and he trusts you. Please, Hermione? Will you just try?" Hermione looked around at the other three and sighed in defeat.

"I'll try," she told them. "Where do you think he went? Wait, don't tell me…the Quidditch pitch?"

"Probably," Lily answered. Hermione nodded and left her worried friends, heading out onto the castle grounds. It was pouring rain with gale force winds, so she could barely see where she was going, but when a strike of lightning hit the ground somewhere nearby, it lit up the entire sky and Hermione could see where she was going.

When she reached the stands and climbed up, she saw Sirius sitting in nearly the exact same place he'd been the last time they'd had a chat in the Quidditch stands. His head was in his hands, and he was staring at his shoes, which were wet and covered with slick mud. Hermione sat and looked at her own shoes, and saw with dismay that hers, too, were grimy and filthy.

"Go away," Sirius mumbled past his fingers. "I don't want to talk right now, James. Just leave me alone." Hermione raised an eyebrow, pushing her now soaked hair from her face.

"I am going to pretend you didn't just call me James," she admonished him, and he looked over at her, removing his hands from his face. "Because if James is this feminine, he's living in the wrong dormitory." Sirius grunted an apology before returning his gaze to stare out at nothing in particular. "Come on, Sirius, talk to me. They're all worried about you."

"What do you want me to say, Hermione?" Sirius asked harshly, looking over at her with a frown on his face. "What's _left_ to say? My girlfriend's been cheating on me for weeks! There's nothing more to say about it. I'm just a pathetic loser who actually thought Erica was _the one_ for me. I mean, we were together for an entire year! That's an eternity to someone like me! I guess I just have to get used to being dismal and weak." Hermione smacked him across the shoulder, and he yelped.

"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his arm.

"For being a moron," Hermione told him. "The Marauders might be willing to put up with a horribly hopeless Sirius, but I'm not. This is not you, and frankly, I'm disgusted by how much a horrible girl like Erica can affect you this way. You're Sirius Black, you're Padfoot, you're a Marauder! A Gryffindor, through and through. You've got bravery and courage to the ends of the earth. So what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hermione-" Sirius began to say, but she cut him off.

"This is not the end of your life, Sirius Black. You'd do well to remember that and return to reality before you create your own self-fulfilling prophecy. The only way you'll end up a miserable, crotchety old man is if you aim to do exactly that." They were silent for a few minutes.

"Do you understand me?" Hermione asked, more gently this time. Sirius didn't react for a minute.

Then, "Yeah, I get it." He turned to look at her again, his face less tense and voice less strained. "I know, Hermione. Erica's not the end of my life."

"Good." They sat in companionable silence, the rain and wind howling around them unrelentingly.

"Hermione?" She looked over at him. "Sorry I stayed with her after she said stuff about you behind your back. It was wrong of me to put my girlfriend before my friend." Hermione gave him a tiny smile.

"It's alright," she reassured him. "Now, can we go inside? It's freezing out here, and I'd rather _not_ spend the night in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey. That woman is a certified whack." Sirius threw back his head and laughed loudly.

"Let's go inside," he agreed. As they headed quickly back up to the castle, Sirius asked smugly, "You really think I'm brave?" Hermione raised her hand again to smack him.

"Kidding Hermione! KIDDING!"

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The next night, Hermione found herself in the library alone. Sirius had in fact come down with a cold after being out in the storm the previous night, so Madam Pomfrey had detained him in the Hospital Wing for the evening to keep a close eye on him.

As she turned to reach for another book, she bumped into another person.

"Oh, sorry," she began, looking behind her. There stood Snape, a sour expression on his face.

"Watch where you're going, Granger," he growled, and made to move past her.

Hermione thought very quickly for the next several moments as he walked away from her. In a matter of years, Death Eater Severus Snape would betray the Potters and leave them for dead. In approximately twenty years, Potions Master Severus Snape would point his wand at a prone and weakened Albus Dumbledore, killing the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen.

She was now twenty years in the past with a young, much more impressionable Severus Snape. But what could she do without catastrophic consequences?

'It's now or never,' Hermione thought to herself. 'Can I change things without devastating the future?' Watching Snape walk stiffly away made the decision for her.

"Snape!" she called, and he continued walking. "Severus!" This got his attention. He stopped for a moment, and then slowly turned to face her.

"Excuse me?" he hissed loftily. Hermione held his gaze steadily. "What do you want, Gryffindor?"

"You don't call me a Mudblood," she pointed out when he was close enough to hear her murmur. "Every other Slytherin calls me a Mudblood, but you don't. Yet, you feel as though you embody all the best traits of Slytherins."

"What's your point, Granger?" he said through his teeth, glaring down at her.

"My point is that you don't treat me like scum, and I appreciate that. I'd like to get to know you." Hermione ground her teeth together, hardly believing that she was speaking these words to _Snape_ of all people. The Slytherin stood shocked for a moment.

"You must be joking," he scoffed. "Why would a Gryffindor princess like you want to get to know me?"

"Gryffindor princess? _Really_? Anyway, I already told you," she said slowly. "You haven't called me Mudblood once since I've been here. You don't have much respect for me otherwise, but you haven't used the foulest name against me. That's why I would like to get to know you." Snape's brows furrowed as he watched her. They were silent for a minute. Then,

"You're being serious?" She nodded. More silence. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" She shook her head. "Fine. What is it you want from me?"

"I dunno. How about we study together again?" He shrugged, hoisting his bag up on his shoulder, and turning away from her.

"Same table," he demanded, and Hermione rolled her eyes, picking up her own bag nonetheless and joining him at the far away table.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Despite the tension, Hermione found studying with Snape to be an almost pleasant experience. His answers to her questions became less strained as the night went on, and they were soon speaking freely.

"I don't believe it," Hermione said to him as she switched from her Arithmancy homework to her Transfiguration essay. "There's no way someone got _anything_ true from a Divination class. True Seekers are rare, and I've heard Dorsalia's a right old fraud." Snape smirked as he scratched out a sentence on his parchment.

"Dorsalia _is _a fraud," he replied. "If your rule-breaking friends ever decide to take a trip into the Forbidden Forest at night, go with them. The centaurs in the forest know everything, but don't ever expect a straight answer. Making things difficult is like a hobby for them."

"Ah," Hermione murmured, thinking back to her own experiences with centaurs. She'd met Firenze on a few separate occasions during her first, fifth, and sixth years, and she'd been nearly killed by angry centaurs in the forest with Harry and Dolores Umbridge. This forced Hermione to wonder where Umbridge was here in the past, and if it was too late for that horrid woman.

Snape yawned and stretched. "I'm going to bed, so, er, thanks for the company tonight." Hermione gave him a little half-smile.

"See you in Potions tomorrow," she replied, about to turn back to her essay. Snape turned away, hesitated, and then looked back to Hermione.

"Slughorn's going to want to know tomorrow who we've picked as partners for the project," he reminded her, and she nodded. "Avery and Mulciber are both morons, and I'm not entirely sure how they got into N.E.W.T. Potions, anyway." Hermione snorted, thinking back to the many accidents from the Slytherin table there had been so far that term. "Do you have a partner?"

"No," she told him. "Most of my friends already have partners. James'll probably need Remus to boost his grade, and of course Lily and Stella will pair up. I don't know if Sirius has found a partner yet, but he's friends with Matthew DiBrooks, so they'll probably end up working together."

"Then we could work together," Snape suggested, looking visibly uncomfortable with having come up with the idea. Hermione hesitated, but nodded.

"That sounds fine," she answered. "We can meet up tomorrow night, here in the library to research then?" Snape nodded stiffly.

"See you in class," he said, and she waved him away.

'Did I honestly pair up with _Severus Snape_?' she wondered to herself, not entirely sure that the whole thing wasn't some bizarre dream. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl watching Snape from behind a bookshelf. After taking a closer look, she recognized Xavierre Preston, a seventh year Slytherin student with whom she shared all classes except for Potions.

"Preston?" she called quietly, and the girl jumped, turning to see Hermione.

"Granger, you scared me!" the slim blond girl gasped, holding a hand to her chest and looking back toward Snape as he walked out of the library.

"Sorry," Hermione apologized, struggling to keep a grin off of her face. The Slytherin girl had a crush on one Slytherin sourpuss Severus Snape! "Are you ever going to tell him?" Preston frowned, confused. "I mean, are you ever going to tell Snape you like him?" The other girl flushed darkly.

"I-I don't know what you mean," she said nervously, pushing her hair out of her face. "I don't like Severus! That's crazy! No one likes Severus." Hermione gave her a tiny, knowing smile.

"If you insist," she said ambiguously, and Preston huffed out a sigh, leaving the library after Snape. Hermione looked around, her head buzzing with information. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Snape had left behind today's copy of the Daily Prophet, and it was folded to show the headline, "More Dark Disturbances Plague Britain." She frowned and continued reading.

Two Muggle families had been found, slaughtered in their own homes. A wizard's bargain robe shop had been torn to pieces on Saturday. Quidditch matches were being cancelled all over the country due to threats from Death Eaters.

It was absolutely eerie how similar this article was to many that had been written during Hermione's sixth year at Hogwarts, twenty years in the future. Everyone knew about Lord Voldemort, but no one was brave enough to stop him and his Death Eaters from causing devastating destruction.

No one except the Order of the Phoenix.

Hermione decided then and there to approach Dumbledore about joining the beginnings of the Order. She couldn't do much to aid the war effort now, but she could join and learn everything there was to learn. Maybe when she was returned to her true time period, Hermione could help save lives and crush the Dark resistance.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_What did your friends think about you pairing up with Severus Snape?" Magenta Reed wondered, brushing the tip of her nose with her quill as she waited for another answer._

_Hermione laughed._

"_They weren't happy," she replied honestly. "But the whole situation came to a head the next morning during breakfast. I was admonished so loudly that the other students in the Great Hall were sure I'd received a Howler."_

"_Ooooh I bet Mr. Black _especially_ wasn't thrilled with it," the young woman said excitedly, sitting up straighter in her seat._

"_Oh, Miss Reed, you have no idea."_


	8. Chapter Eight

**Here's chapter eight. I'm sorry…I know it's been a long time since I've updated this story, and thanks to those of you who've been patient. Thanks for your understanding…now let the fun begin!**

**27 June 2011**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't think there's much more to say about this, really.**

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Hermione entered the Gryffindor tower after studying with Snape to find that, despite the late hour, the common room was filled with students of all ages. As she walked through the room to reach her friends, who were sitting by the far window, she passed three games of wizard chess, a group of gossiping fourth year girls, and at least four students trying to change their physical appearances with the help of _Witch Weekly_ and a list of hair lengthening charms and acne removal curses.

After nearly tripping over a rowdy game of Gobstones, Hermione finally made it to her friends. Lily, Stella, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James were all sitting around three tables that they'd pushed together.

"Hi, guys," she said a little breathlessly. "Sorry I'm so late. I couldn't find _Erliche's Comprehensive Guide to Harmless Magical Beasts_ anywhere."

"It's all good," James said, stretching as he fought back a yawn. "You haven't missed anything except Peter schooling Sirius on his atrocious spelling." Hermione looked to Peter, who was still looking down at his parchment. He was looking even thinner and paler than was normal for him.

"What are you working on?" Hermione asked the group in general.

Lily spoke up first. "Slughorn's project. We're just brainstorming ideas."

"Yes," sighed James, relieved. "Thank Merlin I got to Remus before any of you buggers did. I could really use the boost in my Potions grade. I wish Slughorn was colorblind. That way, when my potions turn black instead of purple, he wouldn't be able to dock my marks." Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know, it's really hard to screw up a potion in that class," she remarked. "The directions and ingredients are written explicitly in the damn book." James looked shocked.

"Lily Evans, I can't believe you're so willing to stamp out my creative spark," he said, putting his hand to his chest and feigning hurt. "Just because I feel like making some additions or changes in the directions does not mean it's wrong."

"Actually, that makes it totally wrong," Stella scoffed, and James sighed heavily.

"You dare mock my creative flair?"

Stella nodded vigorously. "And I will continue to mock your _creative flair_ till the world ends," she told him seriously.

"Speaking of Slughorn's project," Sirius interrupted, "when do you want to get started on research, Hermione? Since I'm so good about going to the library now, I thought we could spend tomorrow night there." Hermione feigned a huge yawn.

"Oh, my, it's late. I'm going to bed," she said, pretending not to have heard Sirius speak. "I'll see you guys in the morning." Everyone bade her goodnight, and she disappeared up the girls' staircase.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione and the other two girls were joined by the Marauders as they finished their porridge.

"I never got the chance to ask, Hermione," Sirius began as he pulled a dish of eggs toward himself. "When do you want to start the Potions project?"

"Sorry, Sirius, but I've already got a partner," Hermione told him, sighing. She'd known it would come up sooner or later.

"But I thought Prongs and Moony were working together, and Lily and Stella were working together. Who could you possibly be working with?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, not sure if she should be insulted by that.

"You know, Gryffindors aren't the only ones taking N.E.W.T. Potions," she reminded him coolly. "There are students from the other three houses in the class, too."

"So who _are_ you working with?" Remus asked. Everyone was watching her now.

"Severus Snape," she replied, prying open her Charms book and setting it next to her goblet of juice. There was instant silence at the table. No one spoke, no one ate, no one even breathed.

"Snivellus?" Sirius scoffed. "Alright, Hermione, if you're gonna play a joke on us, you might want to pick someone less loserish than Snape. Seriously, when do you want to get started on research for Slughorn's project?"

"It wasn't a joke," she told him. "I'm working with Snape." Silence again fell, and the entirety of Gryffindor table was staring at Hermione in shock.

"What the hell are you trying to pull?" Sirius said loudly. "You're working with _Snape_? Just in case you didn't know, he's a Slytherin, damn it! Gryffindors don't work with those evil gits!" Hermione slammed her book shut and stood up, facing Sirius head on.

"Yes, Sirius!" she said firmly. "I'm working with Snape. Neither of us had partners yet, so we decided to pair up. There's no reason for you to be so unreasonable about this."

"Damn it, Hermione, Snape's from another house with nothing better to do than try to humiliate us at every turn! I can't believe you're such a traitor!" Hermione's jaw dropped.

"You're a filthy hypocrite, Sirius Black," she said in a harsh voice. "Remember Erica Lange? You dated her for a _year_, and she's not a Gryffindor!"

"That's different!" Sirius shouted, and the common room fell silent. "Snape's a _Slytherin_! You can't trust him."

"Severus Snape has thus far treated me twice as civilly as you have this year, Sirius," she told him. "We're going to be partners for this project because he's a brilliant potion brewer, and I'd like to do really well on this."

"This is _not_ okay!" He opened his mouth to say more, but Hermione cut him off.

"You're not going to stop me, Sirius," she said in a low voice, gathering up her books.

"Come on, Hermione," James said uncomfortably. "You don't have to do this."

"Snape's been no good to us since first year," Remus agreed. "Sirius is right. You really shouldn't do this." Hermione looked around at the table, outraged.

"You're being ridiculous," she told them, picking her bag up off the ground. "I'm not going to sit around while you persecute me, especially when I've done nothing wrong." She stormed out of the Great Hall and back up to the girls' dormitories with all the breakfasting students watching.

Hermione threw her bag down on her bed, seeing red. She was so angry that it was hard to stand still. A moment later, the door opened, and she spun around to see Lily and Stella in the doorway, holding their bags, too.

"Come to scold me some more?" Hermione asked in a stiff tone, scowling at them.

"Oh, cool it, Hermione," Lily said, dropping her bag on her own bed. "We're on your side." Hermione bit her lip, flushing.

"Sorry," she said ashamedly, shedding her robes. "It's been a long time since I've felt that mad."

"We get it," Stella told her. "The Marauders are always like that about Snape. They always have been, really." Hermione sighed frustratedly. She'd always known, of course, that Snape didn't get along with the Marauders during their school years, but she'd never known why.

"Why?" Lily and Stella exchanged a look.

"It's kind of a long story," Lily replied. "So you'd better make yourself comfortable, because once I've started, I'm not going to stop:

"Severus and I were friends as kids. He lives at Spinner's End with his parents, just down the river from the village where I live with my parents and sister. When I found out I was a witch, he told me all he knew about the wizarding world. As a Muggleborn, I had a lot to learn, and we became best friends. When we came to Hogwarts at the beginning of first year, he got sorted into Slytherin while I came to Gryffindor. I didn't understand at first what it meant that we ended up in different houses, but James Potter and Sirius Black set me straight soon enough.

"We stayed friends, odd enough, all the way through fifth year, even though it was hard. His Slytherin friends were always harassing me in the halls, and I never stopped getting teased and taunted by other students for being friends with a Slytherin. The only time we had to hang out was between classes out on the grounds, or during days in Hogsmeade."

"What happened?" Hermione asked, sitting up straighter.

"After our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. exam fifth year, James and Sirius were harassing Severus for absolutely no reason. I came to his defense, since we were friends and all, but Severus was so embarrassed by the whole situation that he refused my help and called me a Mudblood." Hermione's eyes went wide.

"He apologized that night, but I didn't want to hear it. I knew he was getting into the Dark Arts with his fellow Slytherins, and I didn't want any part of that, so I broke off our friendship."

"Snape went bananas for about a week after," Stella added. "He'd sleep outside the common room so he could try and talk to Lily in the mornings, and he followed her around till the Hogwarts Express came to take us back to London. Lily wouldn't take back his friendship, and eventually, he stopped trying, and I'm fairly certain they haven't spoken since."

There was silence in the room for several minutes.

"I'm sorry, Lily," Hermione murmured. "I didn't realize. I'll tell Snape I can't work with him." Lily shook her head vehemently.

"No, Hermione, you were right. Severus has a brilliant mind for potions, and he's essentially a good guy," she told her. "You should work with him."

"I just can't believe Sirius went so insane about it," Stella interjected. "I mean, really, what an ass."

"He was way out of line," Lily agreed when Hermione frowned. "You definitely didn't deserve that from him. From anyone, really." Hermione smiled.

"Thanks, guys," she replied. "I guess they're going to be mad at us, now, aren't they?" Stella snorted.

"It'll do all of us some good to be separated from them for a while," she said. "It's not like we can't go on without them." Lily and Hermione exchanged a look. "What?"

"Speak for yourself, Stells," Lily said smugly. "Whatever are you going to do without Remus to flirt with on a daily basis?" Stella blushed hard and muttered something about tuna salad, hurrying into the bathroom with her toothbrush.

"She's got it bad," Hermione murmured, and Lily suppressed a giggle behind her hand.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_The guys _really_ didn't react well to the project pairing," Hermione sighed, and Magenta scribbled away furiously._

"_Yes, but what did the rest of the school think about it? I mean, from what I know about Hogwarts, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin pairing willingly for a project would be groundbreaking news."_

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

By the time lunch rolled around, each of the four tables was riddled with gossip, and heads craned around to catch a glimpse of either Hermione Granger or Severus Snape. Friends traded whispers and murmurs as Hermione walked into the Great Hall to sit at the Gryffindor table with Lily and Stella.

Frank and Alice had told both the guys and the girls that they were neutral, no matter what had happened. They were Switzerland in this disagreement, so they sat with a group of sixth years nearby.

"There's really nothing better than being the subject of moronic rumors," Hermione muttered as she dipped her spoon idly into her soup. "Really, I mean, I love having people wonder if I've had half of my brain removed during Transfiguration. It's quite flattering."

"Eh, you'll get used to it," Stella said offhandedly, sneaking a glance down to the Remus, who was with the other guys down the table. "Anyway, what do you say we head to the Three Broomsticks next Saturday? McGonagall announced another Hogsmeade trip for next weekend, and I could really use a drink soon."

"Sounds great," Lily said distractedly, having propped her Arithmancy book up against the jug of pumpkin juice in front of her. "Did you know we've got to have these calculations done by Thursday? Vector's gone completely insane."

"I think he's made it his life's mission to have as many of us literally incapacitated as possible," Hermione told her honestly, and Lily sniggered quietly as she dipped her quill in her inkwell. "We'll be the first students actually killed by Arithmancy."

"Ready for the most highly anticipated Potions class of the term?" Stella asked Hermione, spearing a carrot with her fork. Hermione shrugged.

"I don't really have the energy to care too much about what happens, at this point," she replied truthfully. "I'm already getting tired of this project, and we've barely even started."

Twenty minutes later, the three girls headed down to the Potions dungeon, where they found the Ravenclaws and Slytherins already seated for class. Hermione waved to Lily and Stella, who went off to their own table to set up, and went to go sit with Snape, who had seated himself farthest from the regular Gryffindor table.

"Granger," he said, acknowledging her presence with a nod. She sat and nodded back.

"Snape," she replied. "Got any ideas for the project?" Slughorn had asked the N.E.W.T. Potions students to develop, brew, and test their own original potions. So far, Hermione had a few thoughts in mind for the project, but since Snape was beyond brilliant in the subject, she thought she'd see what he had to offer, first.

"A few," he told her, pulling out a torn sheaf of parchment. "I'm going to let you know right here and now, Granger, that I don't want to just brew up a silly potion that changes color in the right temperature. That's too easy."

"I agree," Hermione replied. "What have you got in mind?" They conversed quietly, but a few moments later, Sirius, James, and Remus entered the room, and Hermione received frosty gazes from all three of them.

"Getting the cold shoulder from your always loyal Gryffindor pals?" Snape inquired, a tiny smirk on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please, Snape, don't pretend you're interested in how my friends are acting right now," she remarked disdainfully. "You can imagine for yourself exactly what happened in the common room last night." His smirk grew more pronounced.

"I don't need to imagine any such thing," he replied. "From the rumors going around, I'm fairly sure I already know how Black reacted."

"Then we can cut this inane conversation short and get back to the project, then, can't we?" Snape nearly grinned outright, but caught himself and returned to his list of potion ideas.

"Good afternoon!" boomed Slughorn moments later when he burst through the door of the classroom. "A very good afternoon to you all! I trust you've all completed your assignments and found partners to work with on my ingenious little project?" There were murmurs of assent through the room. "Alright, let's see then…hm…" He pulled out chalk and wrote on the board.

**Gryffindor Lily Evans, Gryffindor Stella Craven**

**Ravenclaw Erica Lange, Ravenclaw Bella Worth**

**Slytherin Alex Avery, Slytherin Jonathon Mulciber**

**Gryffindor Hermione Granger, Slytherin Severus Snape**

**Ravenclaw Apollo Stevens, Ravenclaw Aiden Idall**

**Gryffindor James Potter, Gryffindor Remus Lupin**

**Gryffindor Sirius Black, Hufflepuff Matthew DiBrooks**

Slughorn paused to look at the list, and frowned as he turned to face the class.

"Hermione and Severus?" he called, searching the room with squinted eyes, and they raised their hands. He looked over at them, still frowning. "Don't you think it's a little unfair to put so much Potions talent in the hands of one group?" Hermione and Snape exchanged glances.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Sirius sneered from across the classroom. "They're best friends now."

"Back off, Sirius," Lily said hotly, and Slughorn called the class to order.

"Fine, fine," he wheezed. "Hermione and Severus. Just fine. I'm expecting great things from the two of you, mind. Great things indeed." He turned back to the blackboard and began writing more instructions.

By the end of the period, Hermione and Snape had decided upon a project idea. It was ambitious, but sleepless nights spent in the library would take care of the details.

"You can call me Hermione, you know," Hermione told her partner as he stacked his books together.

"I don't think so," he replied thinly. "It'll be better if we do this one as partners, not friends." Hermione paused, then nodded.

"Fine," she said distantly. "You're probably right." Snape gave her a short farewell, and left the dungeon as the bell rang. Hermione gathered up her own books and met Lily and Stella at the door. James, Sirius, and Remus brushed past them, not bothering to stop and help Hermione pick up her books when they hit the ground.

"Honestly," Stella muttered angrily. "You'd think that at seventeen years old, there'd be a little more mature than that." Hermione stuffed her books into her bag.

"Yes, but that would require growing a pair of balls, and we all know they're too lazy to do so," she sighed. When she looked up, both her friends were staring at her in shock. "What?"

"Such language, Hermione!" Lily squealed in a feigned scold. "I didn't know you were so sassy!" Hermione gave her a quick grin as they headed to their next class.

"Just you wait," she replied sweetly. "I'll show you just how sassy I can be." Stella and Lily hooted in the crowded hallway, and they all laughed together.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

The next week of classes was tense to the point of being unbearable. Hermione, Lily, and Stella now spent all of their time together in an effort to not miss the Marauders and the innate fun they used to bring. Even the non-Gryffindor students were wishing for an end to the uncomfortable rift.

The only good outcome of the situation was that the student body came to respect Hermione and Snape more because of their willingness to put their differences aside to work together. Granted, not all of the students came to this conclusion – some still hissed and booed if Hermione came within earshot, and Snape found himself the subject of even more pranks than ever. Hermione suspected the Marauders, of course, but as she had no proof, there was nothing she could do about it.

Thursday night, in the library with Snape, Hermione noticed a girl with long blond hair making covert glances at Snape from a nearby bookshelf. A few minutes later, when the Xavierre had sighed and left the library, Hermione looked up from her work.

"Snape?" He grunted, printing his newest research find on a long roll of parchment. "What do you think of Xavierre Preston?" He was silent for a minute as he continued copying a long list of ingredients.

"What do you mean?" he asked warily, looking up at her.

"She's got a crush on you," Hermione told him in a low voice, watching his face for a reaction. At first, there was nothing but blank shock. Soon enough, however, his cheeks colored slightly and he rolled his eyes nonchalantly.

"Granger, not only is that ridiculous, but it's completely irrelevant," he replied, his voice sounding irritated. "If we don't hurry up, we'll never finish Slughorn's project, and there's no way I'm failing that class just because you've got some insane notion that a girl I barely know has a crush on me."

Hermione barely suppressed a grin as he turned back to his work, his cheeks still lightly pink. He might not admit it, but she'd planted the seed in his mind, and there was no turning back now.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_Ooooooh," Magenta cooed. "I love gossip. Tell me more!" Hermione smiled widely._

"_I'd never played matchmaker before, so it was fun trying to see if those two might fit together," she said, yawning. "But there's more to come, I promise."_


	9. Chapter Nine

**Happy July! Hope everyone's enjoying a wonderful summer. I returned a few days ago from Mexico, where I had the best vacation EVER. Ziplining and underwater river swimming, anyone? I meant to post this before leaving, but I decided to use the plane rides to make some necessary changes.**

**That said, I hope you enjoy it. It's a fair bit more intense than previous chapters, so if you get a chance, let me know what you think.**

**18 July 2011**

**Disclaimer: I'm getting really tired of repeating that I don't own Harry Potter…but I still don't own Harry Potter.**

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

The next week and a half passed none too quickly for Hermione. Though she and Snape were making good progress on their joint project, she was still the subject of rumor upon rumor, and she was quickly growing tired of it. Snape was no more pleasant to her than he'd been during the first few months of the term, though he was a competent student with clear insight into the deep magic behind potion-making.

During her sixth year at Hogwarts with Ron and Harry, she'd had a deep disapproval of Harry's use of the Half-Blood Prince's Potion's text, but it was nothing compared to watching Snape evolve as the Half-Blood Prince, making the changes to the instructions and scribbling in the margins spells of his own creation. She remembered with startling clarity the moment when Harry had revealed the Half-Blood Prince's true identity. Hermione had, of course, already known that it was Severus Snape, after months of diligent searching in the library, but the part she remembered the most was Harry's apparent hatred for Snape. Now, of course, she understood perfectly.

As Hermione walked to the library late on Thursday night to pick up another book for research into her time travel predicament, her thoughts wandered to the tragedy that had occurred on the grounds of Hogwarts not five months previous.

Severus Snape had killed Albus Dumbledore on the Astronomy tower.

Dumbledore, who'd trusted Snape so implicitly throughout Hermione's education at Hogwarts, had been defeated by the man for whom he'd vouched so fervently. The evening of Dumbledore's death at the foot of the Astronomy tower had erased Hermione's hope for an omniscient, invulnerable role model.

Death was always a threat, and life would always be fragile.

Severus Snape would very soon become a devoted servant to a twisted and evil man, and there was so little she could do…wasn't there?

From her experience with the Time Turner in her third year at Hogwarts, Hermione had known that the laws of time travel were rigid and non-negotiable. Don't allow yourself to become known to yourself, and don't change the past. Short term time travel was less complicated than falling decades into the past…but she had to do something. Death, pain, and heartbreak were on the horizon for the people whom she'd come to love.

Changing the future…It was a moral obligation, wasn't it? She couldn't let her new friends suffer as she knew they would.

Something would have to happen, and Hermione didn't have years in which to put a plan to action. She had a few months, maybe a year. She also had to create this plan…which would of course prove to be infinitely more difficult than she could handle easily.

"This could turn out worse than it already has," she whispered to herself. Just then, she heard a scuffling ahead, bringing her out of her private musings. Hermione pulled out her wand and stepped forward as carefully as she could.

"Not so tough without your wand, are you, little git?" someone hissed. Turning the corner, Hermione saw Terrance Nott, Alex Avery, and Jon Mulciber, three Slytherin seventh year students, standing around what appeared to be a small child. When Hermione approached, she found that the figure was indeed a first year Hufflepuff student. The girl was sobbing quietly.

"P-please," she moaned, her arms hugged tightly around herself. "Please, I just want to go to bed. I d-d-didn't mean to jinx you. I thought you were P-Peeves." The three Slytherins laughed loudly,

"Well, after we teach you a lesson, you won't be making the same mistake ever again," said Avery loudly. "This ought to be fun."

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione called, stalking toward the group. The three Slytherins looked up at her in surprise, and the girl choked out another sob of despair.

"Get lost, Granger," growled Nott. "This is none of your damn business." He raised his wand at the Hufflepuff girl, but Hermione was faster. She held her own wand aloft, and before any of the Slytherins could do so much as open their mouths, she disarmed all three. Their wands sailed toward her, and she caught them, though admittedly much less gracefully than she'd seen Harry do so many times before.

"You're going to be very sorry you did that," Avery told her, his fists balling up. Hermione gave a short, terse laugh.

"What are you going to do, Avery?" she asked, motioning for the girl to come to her. She jumped up and sprinted to Hermione. "Hit me? Threaten me with Dark magic? Go ahead, I'd like to see you try." When none of them moved, she laughed again, putting a comforting hand on the little Hufflepuff's shoulder. "Hm, not so tough without your wands, are you?" Hermione mocked them. She turned away, leading the girl down the hall.

"Our wands, Granger," Mulciber called to their backs. Hermione turned to look over her shoulder.

"I think I'll leave them somewhere for you to find them," she said off-handedly. "Perhaps a little treasure hunt is in order, yes? I hope you're ready to really search, boys. Don't ever think about bothering her ever again." The looks in their eyes were murderous, but Hermione quickly turned her attention to the Hufflepuff girl, not wanting something else to burden her weary mind.

Farther down the hall, Hermione hurried the girl up the stairs.

"Where's your common room?" she asked the first-year, who'd stopped crying.

"The f-fourth floor," she stammered quietly. "Behind the statue of the talking bear." Once there, Hermione made sure the girl got safely into her common room before leaving. Deciding to skip the library that evening, she instead headed down to the first floor and went into the Great Hall.

Muttering a simple charm, she sent the three Slytherin wands up to the now starry ceiling. Once the Slytherins entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning, the wands would find their owners and fall into their hands. It was much more than the three would-be Death Eaters deserved, but Hermione was much too tired to do anything cleverer than that.

On her walk back to Gryffindor tower, Hermione's mind wandered once again, as it was prone to doing when she was alone.

It was sudden and startling – Harry's face surfaced from memory and her breath caught in her throat.

Hermione missed him more than ever, especially since she'd argued with Sirius and had been exiled by the Marauders. Harry was the bravest, kindest, and most remarkably selfless person she'd ever known, but he was unavailable to her. Hermione realized now just how much she'd relied on his rock solid convictions and transparent motives to keep her from becoming jaded and cynical about the crumbling wizard world.

Ron, too, was no longer an option for Hermione to rely upon. Even through the fights and nearly endless disagreements, she still held onto the memory of Ronald Weasley as though it were a lifeboat in the center of an infinite sea.

With Ron, there was another consideration that had never been a factor before. Ginny Weasley had joked during the last year that Hermione and Ron were meant for each other _because_ of the arguments. Ginny had said they were, "almost like an old married couple, always bickering." At first, Hermione had laughed this off and forgot about it almost immediately. How silly, how childish the thought that someone like Ronald Weasley could ever be what Hermione needed.

Even if she made it back to her friends, would she have the chance to actually find who she needed? A chance to find out if Ron was that person?

Hermione shook her head fervently, sighing in frustration. She'd made a point to not be alone in the recent days, for the time alone was always what allowed her mind and imagination to wander. It wasn't good for her to dwell so much on what could have been or what might be when she wasn't even sure what was going to happen to her.

Lily, Stella, Alice, and Frank had been excellent friends during this last week, and Hermione wasn't sure how she'd have survived without them. Though her first instinct when her Time Turner was smashed was to become a hermit and fend for herself, she realized now that without friendship and strong companions, she'd be useless even to herself.

She'd learned much the same thing during her own first year at Hogwarts, when the first few months of the fall term were lonelier than Hermione had thought possible. Then, Harry and Ron had rescued her from a fifteen-foot-tall troll, and the rest was history.

_Without friends, I truly _am _hopeless_, she thought to herself, and though it was a bleak thought, it cheered her. Hermione knew now that she'd never be without someone to rely upon.

The absence of James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, however, were more draining upon her morale than she'd have ever imagined. They'd been friends to her beyond all reckoning, and now that they were giving her the cold shoulder, she wasn't quite sure what to expect in the future.

Hermione then reached the painting of the Fat Lady, relieved to have an excuse to escape wonderings about Peter Pettigrew and his future betrayal.

Once in the room she shared with the other seventh year Gryffindor girls, she fell asleep nearly instantly, forgetting to worry in her exhaustion.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"Is it Saturday yet?" Stella asked as they trudged down to lunch the next day.

"Not quite," Lily sighed wistfully, dropping her heavy bag to the ground as they sat at the Gryffindor table. "If only wishing made it so. On the bright side, Slughorn promised he'd show us how to brew the Draft of Dreamless Sleep today."

Hermione smiled as she remembered this. "Finally, something new to work on." Stella and Lily turned to face her, looks of surprise on their faces.

"You've already made all that stuff from _Advanced Potion Making_?" wondered Lily, and Hermione groaned inwardly. Her first big slip-up concerning her time travel…now, how to cover it up?

"Well, even though my dad's a Muggle, he tried to help me along with my classes," she said, her heart beating faster with every word. "He especially liked the Potions texts, so we brewed a lot of this stuff at home. I have to admit, it all turned out so much better with a Potions Master supervising." Stella and Lily giggled at this, so Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She looked through her bag for her watch, but noticed that, speak of the devil, her copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ was missing.

"Damn," she said. "Must've left it in Gryffindor Tower." To her friends, she continued, "I'll be back before we need to leave for the dungeons. I wanted to look over the steps for the Dreamless Sleep potion before class." The two girls nodded, quickly resuming a separate conversation.

Two floors and one corridor away, Hermione slowed her pace, sighing. She hated telling such lies to her friends, but Dumbledore had asked her to keep it all a secret. Now, Hermione had to decide, would it be worth it to preserve the past as it should have been, or should she open up to Lily and Stella? They were both trustworthy people, but would the risk and consequences be worth it?

Turning the corner to another staircase, Hermione nearly ran into another student. His books went flying, and Hermione grabbed his arm to keep him from falling backward.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, pulling the student to a steady stand again. He was a Slytherin, from the sixth year. He was tall and thin, with dark hair that nearly obscured his grey eyes. He was nearly as gangly as Ron had been when Hermione had last seen him. "Sorry!"

"It's fine," he said, picking his bag up off the ground and waving his wand. His books all returned to the bag, and he turned to face Hermione. "You're Hermione Granger, aren't you?" She nodded, realizing that there was something faintly familiar about him. "Regulus Black." He held his hand out, and Hermione took it, hardly daring believe it.

"Regulus Black," she repeated. "You're…Sirius Black's brother, yes?"

"Unfortunately, that's how I'm known," Regulus replied darkly, and Hermione's cheeks turned faintly pink.

"Sorry," she repeated. "I didn't mean to be callous. It's just…Sirius and I were friends for a while, but we haven't been speaking, so he's what I think of when I hear the name Black." Regulus shrugged.

"You're not the only one my brother's pissed off here, so that wouldn't be surprising to hear even if I didn't know about the row you two had a breakfast a few weeks ago." Hermione sighed.

"So you've heard about the row," she murmured. "Of course."

"I don't think there's anyone who hasn't heard about it by now," Regulus told her, smirking wryly. "I know I'm an evil Slytherin and all, but you should know that my brother deserved everything he got that day you shouted at him. I've lived with him my whole life, so I understand."

"Er, thanks," Hermione said a bit awkwardly. "So you're not a big fan of your brother?" Regulus snorted.

"It's kind of hard to be fond of him when he's the popular one at school. I might be the favorite son, but my brother has the friends, the status, and the girls. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which of us is the one who wouldn't be missed." Hermione frowned, remembering back to her fifth year at Hogwarts. Harry had told her and Ron about a conversation between he and his godfather at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Regulus had followed in his family's footsteps while Sirius had followed the nature of his good heart and gone into Gryffindor.

"If it makes you feel any better," Hermione said, "I've got neither the family nor the popularity and likability. Lily and Stella are basically all I've got now." Regulus rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please, Granger, don't make me laugh," he snorted. "There isn't a student at this damn school that doesn't like you. You stuck to your convictions and willingly paired up with a Slytherin for a major assignment. Trust me, you're plenty popular and likable. My brother and his Marauder friends are probably the only ones that don't admire you for that." Hermione was taken aback.

"Well, thanks," she said after a pause. "I, er, appreciate that." Regulus shrugged again.

"It was a pleasure to finally meet the one who took Sirius's ego down a notch, Granger."

"See you around," she replied, turning away to climb the stairs. It took her much longer than it normally would have to reach the Gryffindor Tower, but she was so lost in contemplation that it didn't matter to her that she missed lunch and was nearly late for Potions.

Regulus Black was a humble and civil guy, though Sirius had made his brother out to be a simpering sycophant in Lord Voldemort's cult of Death Eaters. True, he would one day become a Death Eater, but according to all accounts Hermione had heard, he'd want his freedom from Voldemort before long, and he would pay for that freedom with his life.

Hermione shuddered. Lord Voldemort was going to be the cause of the end of the Black family name. No matter that she and Sirius were at odds – Hermione would find a way to make it work in the end.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

Saturday morning dawned quietly upon the chilled grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When Stella, Hermione, and Lily set out down the path toward Hogsmeade, their breaths turned frosty in the cold air.

"I hate this weather," Stella muttered for the third time that morning, her hands stuffed deep into the pockets of her cloak with a thick scarf wound around her neck. "When we finally graduate from this place, I'm going somewhere that doesn't have winter."

"I hear South America's very nice this time of year," Lily noted, exchanging a grin with Hermione.

"Excellent," Stella said briskly as they left the grounds. "Well, now you know where you can reach me come next July. I'll send you post from the equator."

As the girls continued to chat casually, they entered the Three Broomsticks and ordered butter beers, sitting down at a table with Alice, Frank, and Hufflepuffs Rose Santiago and Bryce Brewer.

"You know, the only good thing about this weather is that it means the winter holidays are coming," Stella noted thoughtfully, stirring her butterbeer absently with the tip of her wand. "I can't wait to be free of McGonagall and Slughorn and Flitwick and Sprout…" They all sighed wistfully.

Frank groaned. "I don't know how I'll be able to make it this last month till holiday. All this work is killing me." Alice nodded her agreement.

"I'm positive Sinistra was laughing when she gave us all that homework Tuesday night," Rose said seriously.

"There's no way about it," Lily sighed. "They're trying to kill us. And I think they might succeed."

"Well, if it wasn't so difficult, the N.E.W.T.s wouldn't be worth it, right?" Hermione interjected, sipping her drink. Everyone looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"I wish I knew how you do it," Rose murmured. "You're top in the class now, and you're still sane. I didn't know that was possible." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure 'sane' is a word that describes me," she replied. "But, like I said, it's all about the end result." Stella groaned, looking around at the cheerful faces of younger students.

"Can we get out of here?" she asked, pushing her butter beer away from her. "All this happy noise around us is kind of depressing me." They all agreed, so they bundled up again and walked out into the chilly afternoon. Alice and Frank, and Rose and Bryce headed up the hill to visit the Shrieking Shack. Hermione, Lily, and Stella walked idly, going nowhere in particular until they reached the tall fountain in the town square.

The fountain burbled merrily as they sat on its edge and resumed conversation.

"Where are you headed for the holidays?" Lily asked Stella. "Back home, as usual?"

"That's the plan," Stella replied, flipping a strand of curly hair out of her face. "My mum wanted to visit her parents in France, but my dad's still not so keen on it since the whole bouillabaisse incident a few summers ago." Lily laughed.

"That story never gets old," she giggled. "I think my parents just want a quiet Christmas, since it's the last one we'll have together as a family. Petunia's getting married next summer, and I'll be done with school, so it's another family holiday, just for old time's sake." Hermione noticed the bitter touch to her voice.

"Your sister's getting married?" Hermione asked in feigned surprise. Of course she knew Petunia Evans would be getting married, but she couldn't deny that she was curious. She wanted to know as much as possible about Lily, the remarkable woman who'd given birth to such a remarkable son.

"Yes," Lily sighed, watching the fountain water. "She's marrying a salesman from a company that sells drills to Muggle construction companies. He's very…average, very normal, even for a Muggle. Honestly, even though we all knew she was going to end up with someone as far from the wizarding world as possible, she really outdid herself. Vernon Dursley is just about as boring as a man could truly be." Lily shook her head. "Well, she says that he makes her happy, so I can't hold much against him for that." Hermione smiled to herself. Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley sounded exactly as Harry had always described them, though she'd never had the pleasure of a first-hand encounter.

"How about you, Hermione?" Stella asked. "Got plans for the holidays?" Hermione shook her head.

"Nope," she replied, trying not to think too hard about the lies she was about to tell. "I think I'm going to stick around Hogwarts. I've never had a holiday at school, and I think it's time I forge out on my own, you know?" The two girls nodded, but Hermione could see that they weren't satisfied. "I'm looking forward to it. You know, I haven't read nearly as much of the library as I'd like, so I think I'll catch up this winter." Lily opened her mouth to speak, but a sudden noise interrupted her. Somewhere in the village, a woman was screaming.

Hermione frowned as the screams multiplied, and the village erupted into chaos. Witches and wizards in their cloaks and carrying their purchases were running every which way. They were running from something, but what could it be?

"My God," Hermione whispered in horror as a figure clad in a familiar cloak and mask rounded the corner into the square and cursed a man as he ran with his children. The man hit the ground with an agonizing scream and began convulsing.

"What's going on?" cried Lily, standing with Hermione and Stella.

"Death Eaters," Hermione told her, throwing down her cloak, scarf, and gloves. "Get out of here! Get to the castle, and raise the alarm." When her friends didn't move, she cried, "Now!"

Hermione moved forward, her wand cutting through the air as she faced the masked figure who was torturing the man lying prone in the street. The Death Eater was thrown backward, and the man took the chance to scramble away with his children, taking them away with Side-Along Apparition.

The Death Eater growled and faced Hermione, his wand drawn and held in anticipation. "You have no idea what you've just done, do you, girl?"

"Of course I do," Hermione retorted in a high, sweet voice. "Bubble Head Charm, right? I mean, that's what Professor Flitwick taught me. Did I do it right?" Her mocking didn't take well with the Death Eater. He raised his wand, but Hermione Stunned him quickly, not waiting to watch him hit the ground as she turned to face the next masked figure race around the corner, several others following after. Hermione could see Lily and Stella take up dueling stances in her peripheral vision, and it was with dread that she saw that they were outmatched.

Before she could worry about her friends, however, another Death Eater sent a curse her way, and Hermione barely had time to duck before another jet of unpleasantly purple light was sent her way. This time, the curse cut through the left sleeve of her robes, leaving a deep cut in its wake. Hermione gritted her teeth as her DA trained battle senses took over.

Dueling fiercely, Hermione fought her way through Death Eater after Death Eater, keeping a careful eye on her friends. Though proficient in charms and basic defensive spells, it was clear that they didn't have training in real duel situations. They hadn't had someone like Harry explain the nuances of dealing with Dark Magic.

Hermione was dueling a third Death Eater when she saw all four Marauders standing in an alleyway opening to the square, staring openmouthed at the battle. Aurors were also streaming into the courtyard, passing the four boys as they watched the fight.

"I swear to God," shouted Stella angrily as she barely dodged another green lighted curse, "if you don't get your asses here and help us, I _will_ kill you all." The four teens were startled into action and began dueling, though Peter was slow to join. At this point, most of the other students had fled up the path toward Hogwarts and were safely behind the gates again. Hermione quickly wiped the perspiration from her forehead as she attempted to Disarm the Death Eater she was dueling. He shielded himself against it promptly, and returned with a hex that hissed menacingly as it soared past her ear, missing her by inches.

Hermione then heard a cry that made her heart drop. She turned to see that Lily had fallen to the ground, her eyes closed. James roared with anger, Disarmed the Death Eater that he'd been dueling and went to Lily's side. Hermione's blood went cold. She finished off her own opponent with a flick of her wand and then turned to the masked man with whom Lily had been dueling.

"You picked the wrong day to hurt innocent people," Hermione informed him, and he laughed.

"Is that so?" he wondered almost gleefully. "Well, then you'll just have to teach me a lesson, won't you?" Hermione tightened her grip on her wand, and it was almost as though the battle going on around her didn't really exist. She was going to make this man – this evil, twisted man – regret every Dark curse he ever threw.

Most dueling had stopped in the courtyard. Thanks to the appearance of Aurors from the Ministry of Magic, most of the Death Eaters had Apparated, taking with them their cursed or unconscious friends. The only one left was the one Hermione was facing, and everyone was watching this duel with rapt attention. Lily, Hermione could see, was still on the ground, James kneeling at her side. Stella, Sirius, Peter, and Remus were watching Hermione's duel, their wands held aloft, ready to come to her aid.

Hermione began to send hex after jinx after charm at him, but he was able to evade them all with suitable Shielding charms.

"Ooooh, this little student's been doing her homework," he jeered at her as they fought. "Where did you learn to duel, little girl?" Hermione rolled her eyes at the 'little girl' taunt as she whipped a Stinging Hex toward the Death Eater. Their audience was growing larger, every single face rapt with surprise.

"I had a good teacher," she said, Harry's face flashing quickly into her mind. "'Little girl'?" she scoffed. "You seem to have broken the most important rule of dueling an unknown enemy." The Death Eater threw his head back and laughed raucously.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, pointing her wand at his unprotected midsection. It was almost too easy.

As he fell to the ground, rigid and unable to move, Hermione permitted herself a tiny smile and approached him. "The most important rule of dueling an unknown enemy? Don't underestimate your opponent. It would be embarrassing to lose to an _unqualified_ schoolgirl witch." The Death Eater's eyes narrowed, but Hermione backed away from him, dislike and disgust present in equal measure in her eyes.

"Next time, think twice before making such a mistake," she advised him quietly. "In fact, think twice before coming near this place ever again." She returned to her friends, anxious to find out how Lily was faring.

"Is he the last?" asked one of the Aurors, and Hermione nodded, looking over her shoulder. When she turned around, she was horrified to see that the Death Eater was standing again, with his wand pointed at her.

"I'll be sure to know more about you the next time we meet," he said in a voice so low that Hermione was the only one to hear. "Count on it." He then slashed his wand through the air in her direction before immediately Disapparating. Hermione watched as a jet of sickly colored red light came her way.

She heard gasps and shouts of horror from her friends, as well as protective spells from the many Aurors in the surrounding area. None of that mattered, because she was falling, and falling fast. Someone caught her before she hit the hard brick road, but her body betrayed her and her eyes closed involuntarily before she could see who held her.

**ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

"_Ah, here we are," Magenta said with satisfied relish. "I've never heard a firsthand account of the Ambush of Hogsmeade before. What was it like?"_

"_It was terrifying," Hermione said truthfully, and the younger woman looked surprised._

"_But you're always so composed," the reporter blurted, her cheeks becoming pink soon after. "Sorry."_

_Hermione laughed. "It's not a problem. I understand your surprise. People are used to hearing about me as though I'm invincible because that's how the Daily Prophet likes to tell its stories, but I promise you this isn't the case. Fortunately, no one is invulnerable, and it's because of this that the good guys always have a shot at defeating the bad guys."_

"_You already had experience dueling, though, didn't you?" Magenta asked, biting her lip as she fished a fresh quill from her handbag. "I mean, your fight at the Ministry of Magic during your fifth school year in the Department of Mysteries is legendary." Hermione smiled wryly. The fight that she'd experienced in her own reality was not the same battle that people were used to hearing about. Everything had changed when she left the present and journeyed to the past._

"_Of course, I'd been taught how to duel before that day in Hogsmeade," Hermione replied, folding her hands and choosing her words carefully. Since altering the past, she had to be very cautious when speaking of her real time. It was very confusing, and potentially damaging should she slip up and admit to her actions. "With all the dangers we faced through the years at Hogwarts, we wouldn't have survived if we didn't learn how to defend and fight."_

"_Now, I don't believe anyone really knows what happened after the duel in Hogsmeade," Magenta remarked, watching Hermione's face for telltale changes in expression. Hermione was deliberate in arranging her face casually._

"_You're right," she agreed. "I've never really talked about that with anyone who wasn't there that day."_

"_Am I overly hopeful to think you might tell me about it tonight?" the younger woman asked her eyebrows raised._

_Hermione sighed, smiling. "I promised to tell you the story, Miss Reed, and I'm a woman of my word. There's no need to be anxious."_


End file.
